When Pranks Go Bad
by Zetta
Summary: When Pranks Go Bad, it's never good… Especially when you're dealing with Age Potions! MWPP have a little accident, and manage to get most of Gryffindor tangled up in it! Complete! Pre-OotP!
1. Sunday

**…When Pranks Go Bad…**

By Zetta Zofia  
Disclaimer: Not mine, belong to someone else, yadda-yadda-yadda.  
Summary: When Pranks Go Bad, it's never good… Especially when you're dealing with Age Potions!  MWPP have a little accident, and manage to get Lily Evans, Frank Longbottom, and Arabella Figg tangled up in it!  
Characters: MWPP, Lily Evans, Frank Longbottom, Arabella Figg, and Severus Snape.  
Note: I normally finish the fic, then post it, but I decided to change it up for once to see if I do any better.   
And Kyli, this is not the fic that was inspired from yours. :o)

**Chapter One  
**- _Sunday_

"Okay, add a little bit of water.  Er, about two drops.  And then the Dragon scales."

There was a plop as Sirius tossed the ingredients into the cauldron.  The thick liquid seemed to shiver, and slowly turned to a brownish-grey color.  "Cool," Sirius said, stirring.

Remus frowned at the list.  "Then add the wolvesbane."

"Do we have enough?" James asked.  He was studying the potion in the cauldron with a look of disgust on his face.  

Peter dug through his bag.  "I've got some," he said nervously.  "But it hasn't aged very long."

Sirius took it from him.  "No matter.  How much?"

"A pinch."

Sirius snorted.  "Yes, potions are so bloody exacting, aren't they?"  He tossed it in the cauldron.  "Jimmy, you wanna stir for a bit? Give a chap a rest?"

James sent him a dark look.  "Do _not_ call me Jimmy."  But he stirred.

Remus frowned and squinted his eyes, trying to read the list.  "Hell," he muttered, disgusted.  "Did you have to get the most abused list of ingredients in the entire library?  I think it says two scoops of diced rat spleen, but I'm not sure."

Peter cringed.

"Er, sorry Wormtail," Sirius said, giving him a grin.  He dumped in one of the scoops.  "Hope that wasn't anyone you were close to."

Peter crossed his arms.  "Sure, pick on the poor rat, why don't you?  Oh wait, you already do."

"That makes you an integral part of the group," James said, also grinning at him.  "If you weren't here, who would we pick on?  I mean, we can't pick on Remus, he's too cranky."

"I'm not cranky," Remus muttered.  "You try turning into a werewolf once a month and see how it affects your disposition."

James ignored him.  "We can't pick on Sirius because, well, to be frightfully honest with you, it would be far too easy.  I mean, we'd never be able to get started because we wouldn't be able to figure out where to start."

Peter snickered.  Sirius gave James an offended look.

James continued, oblivious.  "And of course, we can't pick on me, because who in their right mind would want to pick on me?"

Remus gave him a long look.  "You _are_ joking, right?"

"Snape-y and Fire-head and Ding-Dong don't count," James said, shrugging.  

"But they excel at it," Sirius said cheerily.  "I'm sure we could get a few pointers from them, and, there you are!  We could pick on you for the rest of eternity."

"They hate you more than they hate me," James reminded him.  "At least Snape.  Fire-head and Ding-Dong a toss-up."

Sirius snickered.  "Yeah, that's probably true."

"Ding Dong?" Remus wondered, giving them wary looks.

Sirius and James snickered.  "Arabella.  Bella.  Bell.  Ding-Dong."

Remus groaned.  "That's pathetic."

"You should see what she looks like when we call her that," James told him, grinning.  "What's next?"

"Shrivelfig," Remus said.  "Three scoops."

Sirius tossed it in.  James stirred carefully.  

Remus held the book up closer to his nose, trying to read it.  "Wait a sec… Bloody hell, it says three pinches, not scoops."

"How the hell do you get three scoops from three pinches?" Sirius demanded, scowling and taking the book.  He stared at it for a moment and then handed it back.  "Oh.  So, what do we do to fix it?"

"Err…. We can go back and add more of the other ingredients."

"Great," James said, and gave the spoon back to Sirius.  He pulled out the ingredients again.

Peter leaned over the brew.  "It's looking kind of funny," he said uneasily.  "Why's it bubbling?"

The other three joined him in peering over the potion.  "I don't think that's good," Sirius murmured uneasily.

"Brilliant deduction, Sherlock," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"I think it's going to explode," James said, backing away.

The other three looked again, and then they too started backing out the door.

Peter was the first out, and then Remus.  Sirius and James tried to go through at the same time, and got stuck.  Sirius was not above cheating, however, and elbowed James hard in the side.  James fell back.

But before Sirius could get away, and before James could recover, a tragedy occurred.

The potion exploded.

"Hit the deck!" James cried, and dove for under the table.

He didn't quite make it in time.

Sirius had tried to dive out the door, but tripped.

The potion splattered over both of them.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then James swore, using a word that he rarely ever used, and began shrinking.  "Ahhhh!"

Sirius gaped.  And then he began shrinking.  He echoed James's curse, and more.  "Help-ahhhhhhhhh!"

Remus and Peter poked their heads through the door, hardly daring to look at what catastrophe would await them.

Where the two sixteen year olds had stood, now two young toddlers sat, looking around the room as if they had no idea what was going on.

Peter gulped.  "This is… This is not good."

*~*~*

"What do we do?" Peter squeaked, panicking.  

Remus swallowed.  "I don't know."

Little James looked at them.  "Mama!" he shouted, and then his eyes began to fill up with tears.

Little Sirius began sucking his thumb.

Remus hurried over to James and picked him up awkwardly.  "There, there," he said, trying to comfort him.  He shot Peter a panicked look.  "We'll have to make the antidote.  An aging potion."

Peter gulped again.  "But neither of us are any good at potions.  And it took us a week to make the youth potion, won't it take just as long?"

Remus shifted James awkwardly.  "Check in the book."

He knew it wasn't a good sign that Peter was thinking more clearly than he was.  Peter was a great kid, but he wasn't really the greatest at much of anything that was usually helpful.

Peter flipped through the pages and began skimming through.  "Er… It has to simmer… for a week!  And then… We have to have aged wolvesbane."

"We can sneak in and get it from the Potions cupboard," Remus said.  Then he winced.  "Well.  Okay, so maybe we won't have to sneak it.  It's going to be kind of obvious when they don't show up for class for a while, and somebody's going to notice two little kids running around."

"We'll be expelled for sure!"

"Remmy."  Sirius gave Remus a big smile and raised his hands.  "Want up."

"Want up!" James repeated, and waved at Sirius.

Peter joined them and picked Sirius up.

Remus stared as Peter easily held him.  Realization dawned on him.  "Hell, you babysit a lot, don't you?"

Peter nodded.  "All my cousins, I have to."

Thank god, Remus thought.  "Good.  Anyway.  So someone will notice them.  So we have to tell someone."

Peter sighed.  "Unless we can get everyone in Gryffindor to cover for them."

Remus tilted his head, considering it.  "Hrmm…"

"Two words: Ding-Dong and Fire-Head."  Peter frowned.  "Okay, so that was more than two."

Remus scowled.  "You're right.  They'd probably rat us out."

"Want blankie!" James demanded.

"Want bubba!" Sirius shouted.

The two toddlers started crying at once.

"Uh-oh," Remus said.  "Come on, James, stop crying, please, stop crying."

"They're probably tired," Peter said, and ticked Sirius under the chin.  "We should-"

"Is somebody _crying_ up here?"

Remus and Peter exchanged wide-eyed looks and then looked at the door, just in time for Frank Longbottom to walk in.

He stared at them, then at the two little kids.  He swallowed.  "Uh… Wow.  Those two look an awful lot like Jim and Si."

"Want blankie!" James screeched.

Sirius started crying even more.

"This _is_ James and Sirius," Remus moaned.

Frank gulped and glanced around the room.  "Youth Potion?"

"It was supposed to be for Snape," Peter said miserably.  "Come on, Sirius, calm down.  I'll go get you a bottle."

Sirius sniffled.  "Bubba."

Remus shifted James again.  "Come on, James, calm down,"

Peter handed Sirius to Frank and took James.  "All right," he cooed.  "You wanna play with Sirius?  We'll set you guys up a little play area, and you can play with… with…"  He looked around the room quickly.  "Uh… Remus, lay a blanket out on the floor, one of the thick ones."  Remus hurried to do so, pulling the comforter off of Sirius's bed.  A lacy bra flew out.

The three boys exchanged looks.  "Tina," Remus said, and gingerly tossed it back up on Sirius's bed.  "Oh, they've got a date tonight…"

"WANT BUBBA!!" Sirius wailed.

Frank nearly dropped him.

Peter sighed and set James on the blanket.  "Set Sirius with him.  Frank, you run down to the kitchen and ask the house-elves for some warm milk.  Remus, you figure out what to do with them.  I'll watch them."

"I think we've got to tell," Remus said.  "Unless we use the Polyjuice Potion…"

"Polyjuice Potion?" Frank repeated.  "But doesn't that take a long time to brew?"

Remus and Peter exchanged worried looks.  "Yeah… But we've got some… We were supposed to use it for… something."

Frank rolled his eyes.  "Great.  But that doesn't really help much."

"McGonagall would get suspicious if they both skipped all week," Remus murmured.  "What if we took turns being James and Sirius.  For… er, something else, we've got the potions all set up to be them."

"For what?" Frank wondered.

Remus gave him a bit of a sheepish grin.  "I was going to stay in the common room with Pete, acting as Sirius and James,and they were gonna go off and play a prank on Lily and Arabella."

Frank smothered a grin.

"But what do we do with them?" Peter asked, not distracted by the explanations.

James and Sirius were babbling in baby-talk and they giggled.

It would have been cute, but Remus was far too worried to think about it.  "We need to get them some clothes."

Right now, the two were wearing their over-large undershirts, and nearly drowning in them.

"And diapers," Peter said, looking at them a little uneasily.  "And toys, and bottles, and all the other baby stuff."

"We need to tell someone else," Remus said slowly.  He glanced at Frank, then sent a meaningful look towards Peter.  "I don't really think we could cover for them all week… I haven't been feeling good, either."  The full moon was Saturday night.

Peter looked even more worried.

"We can't miss two days in one week, or we'll get called down to Pomfrey to get checked out."

"Who else would help?" Frank wondered thoughtfully. 

"Too bad Mundungus graduated," Peter muttered unhappily.  

"POTTER! BLACK! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"

Footsteps pounded up the stairs.

The three boys exchanged horrified looks and rushed to block the doorway.

It flew open, and Lily "Fire-Head" Evans and Arabella "Ding-Dong" Figg stood there, their skin glittering gold, Arabella's hair a mass of green, and Lily's hair silver.  As in the silver metal, not gray.  "Where are they?" Lily demanded.

Frank shot Remus a panicked look.  "They... uh, they…" 

Peter jumped in.  "They went to the library!"

The two girls knew better than to believe that.  "Potter, in a library?  Hell has not frozen over yet!"

"And besides, we'd have seen them leaving!"

Not necessarily, Remus thought, thinking of the Invisibility Cloak.  But he couldn't say that any more than he could have said the truth.  "Uh… they left a long time ago."

"Move."

Remus gulped.

Lily Evans, while one of the prettiest girls in the school, could be downright terrifying.  Especially when she glared.

Arabella Figg put her hands on her hips, supporting Lily's demand.

"Uh, we can't," Remus said, casting Frank and Peter a worried look and thinking as fast as he could.  "Uh… they glued our feet to the floor before they left."

Arabella looked suspicious.

But, having experienced their tricks often enough, she would have bought it, had James not started screeching.

Horrified, the three boys watched as the girls stepped in the room, going directly to the two boys on the floor.

Their expressions were comical.  

Remus managed a weak laugh.  "Uh…"

For the life of him, he couldn't come up with an explanation.

"Oh my god," Lily managed to say.  "That's them."

Arabella looked as though she were choking.

"Mummy!" Sirius screeched.  He pulled himself up using the edge of one of the beds and toddled over to Arabella.

She stared.

James's face balled up.  "MOMMY!!" he wailed.

"Oh, crap," Remus muttered.

Lily crouched down and stared at James.  "My god," she said.  She slowly smirked.  "Somebody get a camera."  Surprising all of them, she scooped James up, holding him as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to do.  "How'd this happen?"

A little less assured, Arabella slowly picked Sirius up.  He was babbling on and on, and reached up to pull on her earrings.  She batted his hand away.

"Potion accident," Remus said, trying to act as though the girls picking up the toddlers weren't the most shocking thing he'd ever seen in his life.  He waved his arm towards the cauldron on the table, which was half full of a thick orange goop now.

Lily was smiling at James.  "He's so adorable," she cooed.  "Too bad he's not like this all the time."

James giggled and reached for her earrings as well.  One handed, she slipped them out and put them in her pockets.  "Aging potion?"

"Er, Youth potion, actually," Remus said.  He pointed his wand at her and removed the spells on her hair, and then did the same for Arabella.

"Same thing," Arabella muttered.

Sirius screeched and reached for the broom that was lying across James's bed.

"Er…" Peter and Remus looked at each other, then Remus hurried over and shoved it under the blankets.  "James would go starkers if some baby was playing with it," Peter declared.  "Even if he's the baby in question." 

Remus grabbed a sucker off of the desk and aimed his wand at it.  He transfigured it into a Muggle rattle.  "There," he said.

Sirius screeched and dove forward to try to grab it.  Arabella's eyes widened, but she managed to catch him. She set him down and he toddled over to Remus.  "Amazing.  He's obnoxious even when he's two."

Remus handed him the rattle, amused.  But then he frowned again.  "You aren't going to tell anyone, are you?"

The girls both stared at him.  "How exactly do you expect to keep the fact that they're missing a secret?" Arabella demanded, her hands on her hips.

"Er…" The three boys exchanged looks.

Remus sighed.  "Polyjuice Potion.  We'll take turns covering for them until the Aging Potion is finished."

"But won't they find it odd that you four aren't seen together for a whole week?  And who's going to watch them when you're supposed to be in class?" Lily persisted.

Peter rolled his eyes.  "We're trying here, give us a break.  We haven't even had fifteen minutes to think about it."

"Frank'll be able to cover for us one day," Remus said.  He frowned at James as Lily set him down to play with Sirius.  Then he looked at Lily and Arabella, and smiled slowly.  "I've got an idea…"

The two girls put their hands on their hips and glared.  They looked so much alike at that moment that it was amazing they'd only known each other since first year.  "No way."

"Oh, come on," Remus pleaded.  "If you could do it just once or twice… and maybe baby-sit a few times… You haven't gotten in trouble, and you can make up some story for the teachers.  They'll believe you, they like you."

"Or, I could go down and talk to McGonagall right now," Arabella retorted.

"Come on," Peter begged, giving them his best sad-puppy look.

Remus didn't mention he'd change their memories before that happened.  But aside from that, he was not, at this point, above shamelessly begging.  "Please," he said, giving them a similar look.

Frank just looked away, snickering a bit.

"We get the cloak for a week," Lily said, smiling coolly.  "No, two weeks.  And no pranks on us for the rest of the year, at least."

"Wait a minute!" Arabella said.  "Why is it so important that all four be seen?"

"McGonagall would know something was up if one of us missed every day," Remus said.  He exchanged a quick look with Peter.  "I'll pretend to get sick later in the week, but until then…  The potion should be ready on Friday night."  Thankfully, he changed on Saturday night.  Unless something went wrong, baby James and baby Sirius could be back to their normal selves Saturday, in time for the Quidditch Match, and the full moon.  "Let me think a minute… If one of you girls and Frank could be them Monday, Peter could watch them…  One of you plays, er, Sirius on Tuesday, Frank watches them….  Wednesday, I'll play… no, Peter'll play James, and the one who wasn't Sirius baby-sits.  Thursday, I'll play James, and someone else can watch them, and Friday, one of you plays James and I'll watch them until we can get them to take the potion.  That way we spread it out."

"That way would require us to help you out a lot," Lily said, scowling. "Why don't you do more days?"

"McGonagall'll suspect if there's more than one of us missing on a single given day, especially for as often as we would have to do it," Remus said absently.  "We'll have to tell Mark not to hold practice this week.  They haven't got a game, anyway."

"Yeah they do," Peter said, looking at the calendar.  "It's a scrimmage against Slytherin, too, so the whole school'll be there."

"That settles it," Lily said, relaxing.  "I can't fly and Bella can't either.  You'll have to tell McGonagall."

"We'll just tell Mark that Sirius and James are practicing on their own," Remus said.  "They've done it before, and nobody likes it, but it happens anyway."

"Why not just tell him the truth?" Lily sighed.  "I mean, it'd give you one more person to use."

"Except, he's the biggest rule-abider in Gryffindor," Remus said unhappily.  "He'd tell McGonagall faster than Snape would."

"I changed my mind," Lily said.  "I want the cloak for a month, no pranks, and homework done for two weeks."

Arabella nodded.  "And no more nicknames."

Remus looked uneasy.  "I can get you the cloak, as long as it's before they're back to normal.  I can do your homework.  But I can't guarantee no pranks or the nicknames."

"Where do you think McGonagall's at right now?" Arabella wondered innocently.  "Her office?"

"We'll do it!" Peter squeaked.

"I want the homework part," Frank said, looking eager.

Remus scowled.  "The things I do for those… Fine.  But give us a week to recover after they get back to normal."  And after their big Transfiguration and Potions essays were due.

Lily and Arabella looked satisfied.

Peter just sighed and went to stop Sirius from eating the rug.

*~*~*

Lily, Arabella, and Remus went to the library to do some basic research.  None of them had ever really played 'mummy' or 'daddy' for a whole week before, and Lily had never done it when the kids could use magic.

Arabella and Lily were not exactly fans of the library, so they hurried Remus along.  Each checked out a stack of books that towered perilously high.

They ignored the curious looks they got from the library and started back towards Gryffindor.  They had to pass the Great Hall to get back, and walking out at that moment was Severus Snape.

He stepped directly in front of Lily and grabbed one of the books.  "_Raising Your Child_.  How charming.  Bun in the oven, Evans?"

She gave him a brilliant smile and lied.  "Actually, yes!  Remus and I decided to have a child together a long time ago.  We're due in June, and we're hoping for a boy.  We'll name him after you, too, Severus, isn't that wonderful?  I meant to invite you to the shower… well, remind me, and I'll send you an invitation.  I'm sure you'll fit in just wonderfully!"

Snape stared at her, then at Remus, and then at Arabella, who was in giggles.

He set the book on top of her stack and turned and stalked away.

Remus gave Lily an impatient look.  "Great.  By tomorrow, everyone will have heard that, and they'll probably believe it."

"Why Remus!" Lily sighed.  "Why wouldn't they believe it? It's the complete and total truth."

"Yeah, Daddy," Arabella snickered.

Remus sighed and led them up to the tower.

By the time they got up to the boys' room, Peter and Frank looked ready to collapse.  Little James and Sirius were screaming and running around in circles.

They both stopped when the threesome entered.

"BUBBA!" Sirius demanded, waving around a slightly disfigured bottle that Peter or Frank had tried to transfigure.  "Bubba."

James screeched and started toddling around in circles, the temporary nappy that Peter had made for him slipping down off of his hips.

"Thank god for soundproofing charms," Remus said, glancing at the closed door.

"They only work when you have the door closed though," Frank said unhappily.  "And they don't like having the door shut."

Lily rolled her eyes and sat down on the floor to play with them.

Remus did his best not to gape.  "All right then.  First off, get me some towels," he said.  "I'll get them some real nappies."

Peter grabbed a stack from the shared closet and handed them to Remus.  Remus flipped through one of the books until he found a picture of what he was looking for, then slowly transfigured the towel into the nappy.  He then went to work on a short stack of others. 

Lily screeched suddenly and covered her head.

The rattle was flying around the room and barely missed her.  Sirius was screaming because he wanted it back, and James was screeching because he'd stolen it from Sirius- and Sirius was trying to get it back.

"No!" Peter said, and took a menacing step towards them.  The rattle dropped to the floor and both boys looked at him.  As one, they started bawling.

Lily slowly uncovered her face, wide-eyed.  "Whoa… Is that normal?"

"Uh-huh," Peter said unhappily, trying to cover his ears.  "James told me that one time when he and Si were real little, they destroyed the kitchen when their mom wouldn't let them play with a pot or something.  All the dishes got summoned out of the cupboard, and all the pots and pans ended up in their play room."

Remus handed a second rattle to James and the original to Sirius.  They shut up at once and began shaking them.  "When I was younger, and I got mad, I'd scream and somehow manage to lock all the doors in the house shut, even the ones without locks.  My mum got stuck outside one time.  She had to call my dad home to get help.  So, yeah, it's normal, especially if they've been trained in magic.  And, well, they have.  I think they've still got their magic, they just don't have the knowledge of how to use it.  They're still 16 year olds, but they're just… well, in little kid bodies and they've got the same way of thinking as little kids."

"Great," Peter muttered.  

"It's almost eight," Lily said.  "They should be getting to bed soon, shouldn't they?"

"Er…" Remus flipped through _The Encyclopedia of Bouncing Baby Facts_.  "Er, yep.  And they should have had a nap earlier today, too."

Arabella made a face at the two boys.  "That explains why they're so… so scream-ish."

"Well," Lily said, something of an evil grin on her face.  "We'll let you boys take care of them for tonight."

Peter swallowed and gave the babies a long look.  They were grinning happily.  "Er…"

Arabella grinned.  "See ya!"

"Sweet dreams," said Lily.

Remus gave them a small wave, and then he, Peter and Frank turned to look at the two little babies.  "Well," Remus said.  "I can't imagine they're going to like this at all.  Pete, do you know how to do the spell that'll put up barriers around the bed? So they can't fall out when they're sleeping?"

Peter nodded.  "Yeah.  We used it on my sister…"  He trailed off.  His sister had passed away in their second year.  She'd been several years younger than he was.  "Sirius will be the easy one, I think.  He just needs a bottle.  James wants his blankie, and, well, I'm not sure we've got anything that'll pass for it."

"Well," Frank said slowly, blushing a little.  "Mary gave me a little teddy bear thing, and one of James's girlfriends gave him a stuffed dragon a while back...  You think that would help?"

Remus managed to hide his smile.  "That would be great."

"You have to get the dragon though," Peter said.  "I think James put more wards up on his trunk after he caught me and Sirius digging through it last week."  He shrugged, a small grin on his face.  "I can't imagine why.  We were just going to charm his underwear to fly after him during the match this weekend."

Rolling his eyes, Remus grabbed his wand and went to work.

Within a few short moments, they had the bear, the dragon, and Remus had transfigured two glasses into bottles and Peter was filling them with milk they'd snatched from the kitchen earlier.

"Isn't it supposed to be warm?" Frank wondered.

Remus looked at the books.  "It didn't say."

"We'll see how they handle it," Peter said.  "I think when you're using formula, it's warm, but regular milk is cold."

"Oh!" Frank exclaimed softly, and pointed.  He grinned.  Sirius was curled up on the floor, sound asleep.  James was still sitting up, but his movements were sluggish, and he seemed to have trouble keeping his head up.

"I'll get Sirius," Frank said eagerly.  

"Get ready to do a soundproofing charm," Remus said.  "One for each of their beds, so that they can't hear what's going on around them, but we can hear them."

"Why that way?" Peter wondered.

"We need to be able to hear them if something bad happens," Remus explained.  "And we need to make sure they can't hear each other."

"That makes sense," Peter said.  He crouched down in front of James.  "Come on," he said, and picked him up.  "Off to bed with you."

James seemed to recognize the word "bed".  His eyes went wide open and he started squirming.  His face balled up.

"Uh-oh," Remus said.

Frank swooped down and picked up Sirius and carried him over to the bed.

Remus barely managed to get the silencing charm placed on the bed before James started to scream and cry.

Suffice to say, it was a very long night, and James didn't shut up until well after eleven.

More to come soon… Please Feed me. :o)


	2. Monday

**…When Pranks Go Bad…**

By Zetta Zofia  
Disclaimer: Not mine, belong to someone else, yadda-yadda-yadda.  
Summary: When Pranks go bad, it's never good… Especially when you're dealing with Age Potions.  
Characters: MWPP, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, and More!  
Who's Who: Lily plays James, Frank plays Sirius, and Peter's stuck babysitting.  
Author's Note: If this chapter confuses you, let me know, because I've got Monday through Friday to write this way… Anyone who's curious, this fic will be seven to eight chapters (one day per chapter), depending on how well I can wrap it up, and if I need to go into next Sunday as well. 

**_The Chalkboard_****   
**(http://www.sphosting.com/chalkboard/)   
Everything MWPP!

**Chapter Two  
**- _Monday_

It would have to be that Sirius was a morning person at this age.  He woke the room up at about five thirty.

James was in a similar state.  He woke up at about six, and Peter was placed in charge of keeping them entertained.

At a little past seven, Remus and Frank went downstairs.  They were going to get breakfast for everyone and get Lily and Arabella, so they could make the plans for the day.

The two girls were on their way in when they got to the portrait hole, each carrying trays.  Lily looked very annoyed and shoved the tray into Remus's hands.  "I lost the draw," she said angrily.  "What are the classes I'm going to?"

"Er…" Remus looked at Frank, and then back at Lily.  "One of you is Sirius, one is James.  Which would you prefer?"

"Neither."

"I'll be Sirius," Frank said. He gave them a quick, mischievous grin.  "That way I can be a big prick."

Peter snickered, and Lily shrugged unhappily.  She didn't care.  If she were a lesser person, she'd just back out.  But she'd promised to help.

She sighed.  _Why me_?

"I think we've got the same schedule as you," Remus said.  "Except for Care for Magic Creatures when you've normally got Arithmetic."

"Great," Lily muttered.  "I've got to get his books and stuff."

"And take the potion," Frank said.  "I don't think you'd pass for James looking like that."

"And change clothes," Remus agreed.  "He's a lot, er, taller than you."

And she was wearing a skirt, and while Remus would have loved to mock James in a skirt, it would not due to arouse suspicion like that.

She scowled all the way up the stairs, and Arabella snickered until Lily paused and glared at her.  "You're playing Sirius tomorrow.  Remember?"

Arabella scowled, and it made Lily feel better.

*~*~*

"Okay," Remus said.  "Walk stiffer."

Lily glared at him and adjusted James's glasses.  "I can't see even with these bloody things," she hissed.  

It didn't sound quite right coming from James's mouth, in his voice.

Arabella giggled.

"He's going to get made fun of for a century," Remus muttered, watching her walk.  "Relax more.  Posture doesn't count."

Little James was staring at his older self.  "Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy!" he screeched.

Lily went over to the mirror and did her best to slouch.  "Oh gods," she moaned.

James toddled over and grabbed her leg.  "Up!"

"I'm going to curse you," Remus decided.  "Actually, it'll be Sirius who did it.  You're going to be very out of it for a while.  Very spacey.  That way you can have an excuse for acting oddly.  Do you know where he sits in all his classes?"

"I think so," Lily answered, leaning down to pick up James, and holding him awkwardly.  She stared at the mirror and made a face.  "Grr, I'm a big-headed Quidditch Player who's obsessed with myself.  Grr."

It made Remus laugh, and Frank, who was Sirius at the moment, grinned as well.  

"You should make some retort," Arabella said to Frank wisely.  "Sirius never shuts up, and that would have been the perfect opportunity."

"Yes, mam," he said, and gave her an exaggerated wink.

Arabella sighed.  "The constant flirting works too though."

Lily sighed.  "I'm not going to get any better at this," she said.  "I just can't be this much of a jerk.  Let's get out of here."

"See you later," Peter said, giving them a small wave.

They made their way down the stairs.  Remus and Frank walked on either side of her, still giving her advice, and Arabella followed behind.  "Good," she murmured.  "You look like you're up to something.  It's all normal."

"Whose wand are you using?" Remus asked them.  

"Mine," Lily answered.  "But I've got his just in case."

"Same here," Frank answered.

"Hi, Sirius, hi James, hi Remus."

They all looked up.  Tara Macniak was on the couch dressed in her special-ordered robes.  They were the trampiest robes at Hogwarts, and she was quite proud of that.  She sauntered over to them, and slipped her arm through Frank's, thinking he was Sirius.  "I thought we were going to set up a date one night this week."

Frank looked over at the other two, and it was quite humorous to see Sirius Black look nervous.  "Er…I, uh… well…"

Arabella bit back a groan and stepped forward to save him.  "He's going out with me."

Tara blinked, surprised.  "You and _Black_?"

Arabella shrugged and uncomfortably grabbed his hand.  "Well, yeah."

Tara shrugged and looked at James.  Lily glared back, then looked over at Remus, who quickly stepped forward.  "Are you free tomorrow night?" he offered.  "They've got to practice all week."

"Sounds good," Tara said, smiling coyly.  "Walk me to class?"

Remus gave them a helpless look and let her pull him off.

Arabella scowled and dropped Frank's hand.  "Honestly," she muttered.  "Lil-er, James, I don't know why the hell I'm doing this."

"Tell me about it," 'Sirius' and 'James' said at the same time.

They went off to class and took Sirius and James's seats in the back row.  

Transfiguration was James's best class, and had the strictest teacher.  Lily, who was fairly good at Transfiguration, still had a hard time because McGonagall called on James to demonstrate several times.

It was only because Remus was secretly helping her that she got the duck to transfigure into the rabbit.

Were it only the class that was the problem, everything would have been all right.

Unfortunately, they shared the class with the Slytherins.

The class let out, and Remus, Lily, and Frank moved slowly to gather their things, hoping to avoid a confrontation.  Arabella stayed back as well, pretending to be asking 'Sirius' about the notes.

Unfortunately, McGonagall didn't wait around.

Snape and some of his goons were waiting in the hallway for them.

Lily drew upon every bit of nastiness she had in her.  She sent them an uninterested look, trying to remember exactly what Potter did when he was facing off against them.  All she could think of was that it usually involved points being lost.

Frank was in a bit of a tougher spot, seeing as Sirius was usually a loudmouth, and therefore expected to start jabbering.  "Ooh, look, it's the greaseball," he said after throwing a panicked look at Remus, a beg for help.  

It didn't sound quite right, but the Slytherins didn't seem to notice.

"Feeling a little sick yet, Lupin?" Severus sneered, ignoring the taunt.  "It's about time, isn't it?"

For whatever reason, Remus looked worried.  "Sod off, Snape," Lily said, giving him a bored look.  She hoped that was what Potter normally did.

Another moment passed and Severus looked at Sirius as though waiting for a snappy comeback from him.

The bickering that went on between the two groups had developed a proper order to it, apparently.

Frank glanced at him, and tried to look disdainful.  He sneered as best as he could, and hoped it wouldn't look too weird.  "What's the problem, Sevie?"

"Who cares?" Lily said, carefully shifting James's books like he carried them.  It was awkward to hold them one handed, but only girls held them with two hands, and it would have looked weirder. "C'mon, let's get the hell out of here.  It stinks 'round him."

"We're going to be late," Arabella said impatiently.  "Ignore them and let's go."

Severus stared at her.  "What the heck are you doing with Black?"

Arabella just sneered at him and grabbed "Sirius's" hand, pulling him along.  

Snape wasn't done yet and slowly moved after them.  "Better watch out, Lupin," he said, his voice cold.  "I'd hate for word to get out about… well, _you_ know what I mean."

Remus grabbed Sirius's arm and made it look as though Sirius was about to attack Snape.  Frank caught on quickly and struggled against him.  A little slower, Lily grabbed Sirius's arm as well.  "Sod off, Snape," Remus said angrily.  "Si, ignore him."

"I'm just going to beat the crap out of him," Frank-as-Sirius argued.

"It might be an improvement," Lily-as-James agreed.  "Fix the git's face up with one good punch.  Though it might make his nose a bit bigger, and that wouldn't be so great, would it Sev?"

Remus nudged her.  "Let's go."

Snape snickered.  "Uncomfortable talking about it, Lupin?" he sneered.  "That's okay.  We'll talk about how your piss-poor Quidditch team is going to get an ass kicking this weekend."

Lily knew that a comment like that would piss James off.  The boy was more sensitive about Quidditch than he was about his hair!  And that was saying something.  She decided that she might like being James for a little while- it meant she got to be a bitch.  In the most masculine way possible, but nonetheless.  "More likely, it'll be your shitty team getting their asses kicked.  Especially if you're still playing."

Snape sneered and reached in his pocket.  It wasn't the pocket his wand was in, so no one moved to a defensive position.

They regretted it quickly.

Snape brought his hand out and threw a glittering powder over Frank and Lily.

Frank snarled and dove at him, getting an extra dose of the powder, but Lily and Remus caught him by the arms before he could do much damage.

It was really amazing how much stronger James was than her if she could hold back Sirius, Lily thought, and glared at Snape.  "What the hell was that?" she demanded.

Snape sneered.  "Oh, don't worry about it," he said.  "Just a little… special something for you."

"Run," Remus advised him, glaring.

"Don't tell him that, I'm going to kick the bastard's ass," Frank snarled, getting into Sirius-mode.

"What's going on?" McGonagall demanded, sweeping down the hallway towards them.

Frank stilled and 'James' and Remus dropped his arms.  "Nothing but the normal," Snape answered, sneering.  "Got an itch, Potter?" he sneered.

"Enough," McGonagall snapped.  "One more confrontation and I'll put you all in detention.  That goes for you too, Mr. Avery.  I don't appreciate gestures like that.  Ten points from Slytherin for it.  Get moving."

They did as she ordered, Lily and Frank dusting the powder off of James and Sirius's bodies.  Lily glanced back and Severus and the Slytherins were going away as well.  "What was that all about?" she demanded when they'd gotten far enough away.

Remus sighed.  "Don't ask questions about it now, I'll tell you about it later.  But if he ever comes near you guys again, whoever's Sirius especially, get really pissed off.  James usually gets mad too, but he'll help me hold Sirius back until it gets really bad.  We can't let it get really bad though, because you won't know how to fight."

After that was Herbology, which consisted of an hour and a half of notes and, thankfully, nothing too difficult to handle.

In the middle of it, they discovered what the powder did.

It was, as Snape had implied, itching powder.

"That's stupid," Lily hissed, scratching the palm of James's hand.  "Of all the things he could have done, why stupid itching powder?"

'Sirius' was scratching like mad as well.  "I don't know, but I swear I'm going to…to… do something really awful to him."

Remus snickered.  "Better you than me."

Lily glared at him.  "I'm doing _you_ a favor, Lupin."

He shrugged.  "Sorry."  But then he frowned.  "But it doesn't make sense.  "Why would Snape do something as boring as itching powder?"

They looked at each other.  "I don't know."

After that was lunch.  Lily let the potion wear off long enough so she could use the bathroom, and then went back to being James.  There were parts of Mr. Potter that she had absolutely no desire to see, and therefore, it was worth letting the potion wear off first.

History of Magic they were able to sleep through, which was always a blessing but would be especially nice for the rest of the week.

Astrology was only a bit difficult because Remus didn't have it, and neither did Arabella.  They went off to Ancient Runes class instead.  

Care for Magical Creatures, which Peter normally had with them, was not Lily's favorite class at all.  

Kettleburn did not like James or Sirius, and Lily and Frank spent much of the class hanging around towards the back, or worse, being called on to give answers (that they didn't know) to the rest of the class.

Things were made even more uncomfortable when Tina found 'Sirius' and chewed him out for standing her up.

He uncomfortably apologized and offered to go out with her next week.  Seeing the look 'James' shot him, he quickly added, "If it fits into my schedule, anyway."

When the class was finally over, Lily and Frank returned to the tower, went up to the boys dorm, and waited for the potions to wear off while visiting with Peter, James, and Sirius.

Peter had apparently had a rather pleasant day, except for naptime.  

Apparently, neither boy had liked naps and had thrown things around the room for a good half an hour.

But he'd finally got them settled down.  Once they'd awoken again, an hour later, the two boys had played with the blocks that Remus had transfigured the night before, and then Peter had played with them for a bit.

He was well rested and quite relaxed.

It took another forty minutes of sitting in the boys' room before the potion started to wear off, and Lily used the bathroom connected to their room to change in.

She'd never been so happy to see her Hogwarts robes, and took her time putting them on.

By the time she'd finished dressing and putting on her make up, Arabella and Remus had returned from class, and Frank was dressed as himself again.

"Who's up tomorrow?" Arabella asked.

Remus took a seat on the edge of his bed, and Lily leaned against the post of one of the other beds.  "I reworked the schedule," Remus said.  "I'm going to play Sirius, and then you'll watch them.  Is that alright?"  

Lily scowled.  "Why did I have to be James then?"

Remus winced.  "I wasn't really thinking clearly yesterday.  I should have had Peter do it since he ended up missing class anyway."

Lily nearly growled.  She threw the stack of clothes on the bed and stormed out.

Remus watched her.  "Oops."

Arabella giggled.  "I better go after her or she'll be pissed.  We'll bring you back dinner if you don't come down."

Remus waved and then looked at Frank and Peter.  "That wasn't too bad," he said.  "I'm still wondering what's going on with Snape."

"Maybe the itching powder is supposed to last until the Quidditch match," Peter said.  "And then they're not supposed to be able to fly 'cuz it itches so much or something."

Remus and Frank exchanged looks, Frank scratching his arms.  "Actually, that could be it," Remus said.  "It certainly is original.  I'm not sure if it would work…"

"Slytherins aren't the brightest," Peter said wisely.

James started crying.

Remus sighed and stood up.  He picked James up, then flinched and held him back away from him.  "Ew… Diaper."

"I changed it last night and today," Peter said, shaking his head.  "And Sirius's.  One of you two has to do it."

Remus grimaced.  "Well, I have to be Sirius tomorrow.  Frank, your turn."

Frank protested at once.  "Hell no, they're more your friends than mine!"

Remus set James on Frank's bed.  "I'm not doing it.  I'll do it when it's my turn to watch them."

He grinned and hurried out of the room.  The library was usually empty during dinner.  And he could use some studying time…

The door opened behind him and Peter ran out.  "Hurry," he said.  He couldn't hide the grin.  "Before he gets back out of the bathroom."

The two boys were out the portrait hole just in time to hear Frank run out the door and start yelling.

More to come soon, whether you like it or not!! (Feel free to let me know if you do or don't.)

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	3. Tuesday

**…When Pranks Go Bad…**

By Zetta Zofia  
Disclaimer: Not mine, belong to someone else, yadda-yadda-yadda.  
Summary: When Pranks go bad, it's never good… Especially when you're dealing with Age Potions.  
Characters: MWPP, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, and More!  
Who's Who: Lily plays James, Frank plays Sirius, and Peter's stuck babysitting again.  
Author's Note: Lemme know if you're getting confused! 

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Everything MWPP!

**Chapter Three  
**- _Tuesday_

As punishment for forcing him to change the diaper, Frank charmed some of their underwear to decorate the Great Hall the next morning.  

Remus and Peter, well used to such tricks from Sirius and James, were not too embarrassed.  Remus was acting as Sirius, but to make things easier, they'd decided that Sirius and James were coming down with a bug, and therefore, their behavior could be somewhat muted.  He just had to hope that no one would find it odd that Sirius was collecting Remus's knickers.

They were all very grateful for the inspiration of the sickness, especially Remus, Frank, and Arabella, who would be playing Sirius the rest of the week, and did not want to try and be as energetic as he normally was.

For whatever reason, this seemed to inspire the Slytherins to look at them and laugh.

But it wasn't until near the end of Potions that any of the Slytherins actually said something to them.

Avery stopped in front of who he thought was Sirius and sneered.  "Feeling sick, Black?  And where's Potty and Loony-Loopy-Lupin?"

"Sod off," Remus-as-Sirius sneered.  Peeves had made up the 'Loony-Loopy-Lupin' bit during their first year, and the Slytherins loved to mock him with it.  Peter hurried next to him, ready to support him, but looking nervous. 

Frank stood on his other side, but was rather pale, and did not look as though he could survive a fight should it come down to it.

Lily had been watching warily.  She sighed and dropped an extra bayberry leaf in her potion.  "Professor!" she called.  "I think I just screwed up!"

The professor bustled over to her.  She eyed 'Sirius', Peter, Frank, and the Slytherins.  "Back to your cauldrons," was all she said before turning her gaze on Lily again.

No one argued, and the crisis was momentarily averted.

They managed to get out of class immediately and they hurried away before another confrontation could occur.

Fortunately, they had Charms with the Ravenclaws, who didn't really bother Sirius and James.

Except some of the girls.  They all seemed to go for Sirius and James.  

Remus, who was acting as Sirius, was nearly attacked upon walking in, with two girls grabbing his arms and another smiling flirtatiously at him.  "Are you free tonight?" one of the cooed, and played with the button on his shirt.  "I was hoping we could… get together… like last week?"

Remus's eyes nearly bulged at that.  Sirius had been gloating about what he'd done with her.  "Uh…"

Lily sighed.  "Get lost, you idiot bimbo."  She grabbed Remus's arm and jerked him forward, pulling him over to sit next to her as her partner.  

All through class, Remus could feel the girls staring at him- or rather Sirius- and it made him rather uncomfortable.  But also very grateful that Lily was his partner.

Lily scared them off.

They grabbed lunch from the kitchens and went up to relieve Arabella from the kids for a little while.

She was relieved to see them, and made Remus change Sirius's nappy.

He was not pleased, as it was the first diaper he'd changed with more than just piddle.

They went off to class again after that, and talked through History of Magic.  Midway through class, they decided that since Binns wouldn't notice anyway, no one had to act like James or Sirius during that class anymore, and for the next few days they could let the potion wear off.  Though that might make it more of a headache than it was, as that would involve changing clothes, and sneaking off to change bodies...

After History of Magic, the group filed on up to the Divination classroom.

Within fifteen minutes, Remus wanted to pull out all of Sirius's hair.  The Divination Teacher was everything the rumors about her claimed to be.

She predicted a grim future for everyone who was wearing black shoes that day, and since it was part of the school uniform- and more important, it was the only color that matched their robes- everyone was doomed. Except for Arabella, who'd worn maroon flip-flops in a silent rebellion against the school.

Leaving the class an hour and a half later, he informed Frank and Peter that the woman was insane.

They both agreed.

Things were going very well for them though, and no one seemed to have caught on.

But they were all expecting something bad to happen.

They figured out what it was later that night, after Remus had returned from his date, and he, Lily, Arabella, Peter, and Frank were sitting up in the room, playing with the boys and working on the potion.

"I don't feel too good," Frank said finally.

They all looked worriedly at him.  "What's wrong?" Lily asked, frowning worriedly.

"Upset stomach, dizzy, and really… well, unpleasant." He looked rather green as well.

"Me too," Lily admitted, looking puzzled.  "I was fine this morning, except for a little stomach ache."

"Maybe there's a bug going around," Peter suggested.

Arabella gasped.  "Or maybe it's what Snape did!  You aren't still itching, are you?"

Lily and Frank shook their heads.

"Why would he do itching powder that only lasts a day?" Arabella demanded.  "He had to have done something else.  He must have made some powder…"

"Because of the Quidditch match," Peter said.  "That's gotta be it.  They were Sirius and James yesterday, so Snape must have thought he hit them…"

"So I'm getting sick because I had to be Potter?" Lily moaned.  "That's so not fair!"

"Where are the robes you wore yesterday?" Remus asked.  "We can try and get a sample of the powder and find out what exactly it is."

They both pointed to the robes on the bed and Remus carefully lifted them up.  He disappeared into the bathroom for a while, and returned a few moments later with a folded piece of paper.

He held it very carefully.  "Anyone who needs to use the loo, do it now.  I got some powder off of your… er, their robes, and I'm going to start checking on this, and we don't need anyone else getting sick, and the potions I have to use are powerful."

Grim faced- and in Frank and Lily's cases, green faced- they all waved him to go back in.

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(Yes, I know this chapter was short.  The chapters will all have rather varying lengths, and this one happens to vary into the short end.)


	4. Wednesday

**…When Pranks Go Bad…**

By Zetta Zofia  
Disclaimer: Not mine, belong to someone else, yadda-yadda-yadda.  
Summary: When Pranks go bad, it's never good… Especially when you're dealing with Age Potions.  
Characters: MWPP, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, and More!  
Who's Who: Peter is James, Frank is _supposed_ to play Sirius, and Arabella's supposed to baby-sit again.  
Note: Yay! I like my next chapters, 'cuz it gets fun to write.  So, yeah, hold out for a few more days...I'll try to post one more tomorrow, but if I don't, I'll post it after I get back for the weekend. 

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Everything MWPP!

**Chapter Four  
**- _Wednesday_

"I tried a bunch of different books, but none of them had it in them," Remus told Lily and Arabella at breakfast the next morning.  Lily was leaning heavily on the table, and there were bags under her eyes.  She was pale, and looked rather awful.  But Remus continued.  "Frank's in worse shape than you are.  He's barely sitting up.  You're going to have to be Sirius or James today, Arabella."

Arabella let out a piteous moan.  "Why me?"

"Trade you," Lily groaned.

They all stared at her for a moment.  It was _that_ bad?

"Peter will play whoever you don't," Remus continued.  "We're going to leave Frank with James and Sirius and hope that he doesn't get them sick.  But we can't have more people missing, and I can't miss another day right off like this.  I'll do it the next day or something."

"Tell Peter to pick," Arabella sighed.  

"He picked James," Remus said immediately.  "You're a little more… energetic than he is, and Sirius is a rather energetic person, even when he's sick.  It would be more convincing that way." 

"Fine," Arabella grumbled crossly.

"I shouldn't miss any more class this week," Lily said, closing her eyes and resting her head on the table.  "I'm going to fall behind."

Remus looked at her worriedly.  "You're supposed to watch them on Thursday and Friday," he said slowly.  "Will you be up for it?"

"I hope so," she moaned.  "I don't know what the hell this is, but I feel horrible."

"We're researching it," Remus sighed.  "Last night, I went to the library and grabbed a few more books. Frank said he'd try and look in them today if he was up to it."

They fell silent for a while, Remus and Arabella eating.

Lily stared at them and felt sick to her stomach.

She pushed back her plate and stumbled to her feet.  "I can't go to class like this," she murmured, clearly disappointed.  "I'm gonna go talk to McGonagall and tell her I've come down with something."

"Good idea," Remus said while Arabella looked on, worried.  "I'll go with you and tell her about Frank."

"We can't tell her what really happened," Lily murmured.  "It'd be too suspicious."

"Right," Remus agreed.  He hesitated.  "So, snogging with Frank?"

Lily scowled but understood.  They couldn't exactly say that they'd been hit by powder by Snape, and it would be a good explanation for how they'd both got it.  But still, ew.

"I'll try to avoid saying it," Remus said.  "But she's sure to get that impression."

Lily stayed quiet and followed him up to McGonagall.

*~*~*

Transfiguration was not a pleasant class that day.  Arabella, acting as Sirius, and Peter, acting as James, were both rather bad at anything having to do with Transfiguration.  Peter, of course, had an advantage in that he was Animagus.  Even so, he still wasn't very good at it.

McGonagall was in a rare mood, snappish and taking points off on a whim.  It was understandable.  Half of her class was missing.

When they walked in, McGonagall had started lecturing them on a prank she'd just had played on her that James and Sirius had apparently set up some time ago.  James and Sirius each got two detentions.

That would have been fine, but once she was done, one of the Gryffindor girls came up and began flirting with 'Sirius'.  Arabella, having heard about all of the rumors about her and Sirius, grew annoyed.  Honestly! This girl was trying to get Sirius to cheat on her!  Before Arabella could tell the girl off, the girl had gone a little too far, and was, er, feeling Sirius up.

Horrified, she rushed away, struggling to act as much like Sirius as she could.  Except, of course, for the fact that 'Sirius' was ignoring a girl.

Peter sat down next to her and it did not please her to see him smirking at her.

Class started, McGonagall still snappish.

The Slytherins lost twenty points within ten minutes of the start of class, and Gryffindor was not far behind with fifteen.

After her (extra long) lecture, McGonagall called upon 'James' to demonstrate to the class.

Peter was terrified.  "Uh, Professor, I don't-" He stopped himself.  James never said 'I don't know'.  "Uh, I'm not familiar with that one."

McGonagall sighed impatiently.  "Black?  Lupin?"

Remus quickly stood and did the transfiguration, hoping and praying that he would do it right, and she wouldn't call on 'Sirius'.  Arabella didn't have a chance of doing it.

Fortunately, it worked for him.

"Five points to Gryffindor," McGonagall snapped.  "Anyone else?"

The class was silent.  "Get to work." She turned and looked worriedly at Peter, who, still James, gave her a nervous smile that looked very unnatural.  "Is everything alright, Mr. Potter?"

"I, uh, well,"

"There's something going around," Remus said quickly.  McGonagall's attention was diverted to him.  "Frank's out today, remember, and Lily Evans is out sick too.  Arabella Figg wasn't looking too good either, and Peter too.  And Frank was acting like them when he started to get sick."

McGonagall pursed her lips.  "Had you considered seeing the nurse about this?"

Her hawk eyes were on 'James' again.  Peter tried his best to look sick.  He was so terrified, it wasn't hard.  "Er, we were going to go later today if it got worse."

"We don't want to miss any more class than necessary, of course," Arabella said, in a rather good Sirius impression.  She grinned, and Remus had to fight back a snicker.  Arabella had mastered Sirius's rogue smirk quite perfectly.

McGonagall scowled.  "Well, don't stand here chatting.  Get to work.  Don't forget about your detention tonight, Mr. Black."

Arabella's eyes widened a bit, and she had to force herself to hide her scowl.  "Er, Professor, would it be at all possible for me to do that next week? I would hate to get you sick by spending time with you when I'm feeling like this."

McGonagall's lips thinned.  "If you end up in the hospital, that shall be one thing, Mr. Black, but until then, I think not."

"But Professor," Remus said.  "If he's already not feeling well, and he has to serve detention, he'll be even worse off for the Quidditch Scrimmage this weekend.

That got her, just as he'd known it would.

McGonagall relented.  "Fine," she snapped.  "Next week.   Monday."

She turned and stormed away.

They exchanged relieved looks, and then went back to work.

Towards the end of class, things went downhill again, when Snape and his goons sauntered over.

Remus had to nudge Arabella before she remembered she was playing Sirius.  She looked up and sneered, and again, Remus marveled at how well she'd picked up Sirius's favorite expressions.  "Ooh, look, it's Sevvy."

Severus sneered back.  "Black and Potter.  Surprised to see you up and about."

"Strong constitutions," Remus said coolly.  "Excuse us.  We've got to be going."

"Ah, the sickly one speaks.  Where's your little friend?"

Peter felt he needed to answer.  "None of your business, greaseball."

He tensed, just knowing that Severus would hurt him for that.

But then again… Maybe being James wasn't such a bad thing.

Severus glared at him.  "Sod off, Potter."

"Is there a problem here?" McGonagall said, surprising all of them.

"Not at all," Remus said.  "We were just leaving."

They grabbed their things and made a quick exit.  "To the tower," Arabella ordered.  "Then we'll go to Herbology."

They walked quickly, forcing themselves to ignore the sumptuous smells coming from the Great Hall.

"Birds of a feather," Remus said, and the Fat Lady opened the door for them.

Immediately, they all saw the big group of Gryffindors gathered around the couch.

And then they heard the giggles of a young child.

They stopped as one, and then each of them hurried over to the couch.

Lily was seated there, Little Sirius and Little James on the floor in front of her, and the crowd of girls cooing at them and sighing happily.

"Lily!" Arabella hissed, putting Sirius's hands on Sirius's hips, and Remus found it odd to see Sirius doing such a thing.  But he was too stunned to say anything about it.  "What the hell are you doing?"

Lily looked up, as did the rest of the girls.  "Oh, isn't he adorable?" Megan Pierson cooed, picking Little James up and making faces at him.

He giggled and reached for her earring.  Lily stood and scooped him out of her arms, saving the other girl from much pain.  She was scowling.  "Frank and I were sitting up in the room watching them, and all of a sudden he, er, _guessed_ that McGonagall was coming." She scowled at Remus and Peter, and they knew she'd found out about the Marauder's Map.  "So I grabbed them and started to take them out of the room.  But one of the seventh year boys was right out in the hall, and saw me, and made a fuss 'cuz of the boys, and then before I could explain, I had to hide them with him, and take Polyjuice potion, and before I could get the boys back, everyone knew."

"So if this is Sirius," one of the girls said, smirking at the little one.  "Then who are you?"

Arabella sent her a smirk.  "Someone who does _not_ appreciate having hands shoved down my pants during Transfiguration."

The girl's face flushed.

Remus sighed.  "She… er, he… er, Sirius is Arabella.  Or rather, Arabella is Sirius."

The other girl paled and looked rather disgusted.

Peter sighed and hoped that, for the moment, they would forget what he was on a normal day, and come enjoy him like they'd just done to Sirius/Arabella.  "I'm Peter," 

"Wow," one of the girls sighed.  "That's so cool."

She picked up little Sirius, who grinned and grabbed her earring as well.  She howled with pain, and it was only because Arabella was standing right there that Little Sirius was saved.  While the other girl whimpered about her earring, several others 'awwed' again.  

"He didn't change at all," Brittany, one of Sirius's exes, exclaimed, studying the little one and the elder version.

Arabella shifted Sirius uncomfortably and tried to hold him on her hip.  But she didn't have the same kind of hips, and it wasn't a comfortable position.

James was curled up quite comfortably on Lily's lap, his thumb in his mouth.  Amused, Lily took Sirius from Arabella as well, but quickly lost him as Megan took him, having removed her earrings.  

"I never thought the day would come that you'd be that close to James Potter," Brittany sneered.

Lily shrugged, her eyes narrowing only slightly when she looked at the other girl.  "Don't worry, Brit.  I'll be happy to give him back as soon as he grows up and returns to asshole form."

Arabella would have offered a comment as well, but she suddenly felt the Polyjuice Potion wearing off.  With a small gasp, she shrunk back into herself.

A split second later, Peter shrunk as well.

Both had to hold up their pants to keep them on.

Peter sighed and sat down.  

Sirius screeched excitedly and leaned for Peter, who took him and didn't look in the least bit disappointed to have all the girls gather around him next.  

"Will Sirius be back to normal soon?" Jenny White wondered.  "We've got a date next week."

"More important," Rosie Carson said sternly.  "Will they be back for the Quidditch match?"

Remus saw need to answer this one.  "They should be back on Friday night.  Of course, that's assuming that McGonagall doesn't find out somehow... She would certainly suspend us, and then, well, they couldn't play, could they?"

Rosie scowled.  "So in other words, we're being black-mailed into silence."

"I prefer to use the term persuaded," Remus said, shrugging.

"Well," Lily said, and then had to pause for a moment as she began coughing.  Her eyes were a bit watery when she'd finished, and Remus handed her his handkerchief.  She wiped her eyes.  "Any of you up for babysitting?  We really should miss much more class.  McGonagall was already suspicious about the boys missing so much in just these few days."

The girls all exchanged looks.  "Er, I've got a test."

"Me too."

"And a date."

"Er… I've got to… er… study."

"Oh, look at the time! Gotta run!"

Within a few short moments, only Megan and Rosie were left.  Rosie, the no nonsense girl who wore her hair in a ponytail and dressed according to the regulations, took Sirius.  "They're kinda cute like this," she said, grinning at little Sirius.

He blew bubbles at her, and while she grimaced, she didn't put him down.

Lily glanced down when she felt a tug on her neck and saw that James had found her necklace.  "They are, aren't they?"

Fortunately, she missed the astonished expressions on Arabella, Remus, and Peter's faces.  

Remus swallowed back a snappy comment.  "Er, I'm off to check on Frank."  Nudging Peter, the two boys went upstairs.

Arabella sat on the couch next to Lily, tired of holding her pants up.  "So," she said, smiling brightly at Megan and Rosie.  "Meg.  I know how bad you wanna get in Sirius's pants… This is a great opportunity!"

Megan snorted.  "When pigs fly!"

She was obviously Muggle Born.

Arabella looked excited.  "Great!"

Lily rolled her eyes.  "How about you, Rosie?"

Rosie gave Sirius a kiss on the forehead and handed him off to Arabella.  "Not a chance.  However, I would like to know how you two got suckered into this."

Lily scowled.  "You know, all day long, I've been trying to figure that out too?"

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	5. Thursday

**…When Pranks Go Bad…**

By Zetta Zofia  
Disclaimer: Not mine, belong to someone else, yadda-yadda-yadda.  
Summary: When Pranks go bad, it's never good… Especially when you're dealing with Age Potions.  
Characters: MWPP, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, and More!  
Who's Who: Remus plays James and Arabella babysits.  
Much thanks to my wonderful reviewers.  Glad you're enjoying it, and hope it continues to "defeat the cliché". (Er, thanks, liz_the_laugh, I've got to say that's one of the best reviews. Hope you don't mind that I'm going to quote you!)

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**(http://www.sphosting.com/chalkboard/)   
Everything MWPP!

**Chapter Five  
**_- Thursday_

"Well," Lily sighed, leaning back on Remus's bed.  "Today sucks."

Frank groaned in agreement.

"It seems to have hit Frank harder," Arabella mused.  

Lily shrugged.  "Fine with me."

"Thanks," Frank muttered.

They were both rather green still.

James screeched loudly and began toddling after Sirius, who was running off with both of the rattles.

Peter sighed and grabbed Sirius from behind.  "Give it here, Sirius."

Sirius began to wail.  "No! No no no no no!"

James sat down on the floor and started crying.

Lily groaned.  "I'm going to kill them," she muttered.  

Arabella sighed and went over to James and picked him up.  "It's alright, Jim," she said in a soothing voice.  "We all know Sirius is a pig."

This didn't mollify the kid, but it made Remus and Peter roll their eyes.  "So who's staying up here with them today?" Peter asked to change the subject.

"I'll do it," Frank said tiredly.  "I'm not going anywhere."

"You never told us what McGonagall wanted," Remus said suddenly.

Lily rolled her eyes.  "She wanted to chew me… er, James out for not attending practice.  But I came close to throwing up on her, so she went away."

Remus grimaced.  "Great."

Lily sighed and forced herself to sit up.  "It's hot in here," she grumbled, and slipped off her robes.  "Let's get to class."

"We'll check back as soon as we can," Remus said.  "Uh, I guess I'll play James." He hesitated.   "I'm not feeling too well, and I have a feeling I'm not going to make it to class tomorrow."

Lily frowned and studied him worriedly.  "You do look pretty bad."

"This from you," Arabella muttered humorously.  She'd taken the rattle from Peter, and now James cooed happily with it.

Lily rolled her eyes.  "Let's go," she said, standing.  She forced herself to put her robe back on, just as someone knocked on the door.  

It was Rosie.  "Hi all," she said, but her eyes fell on Sirius, who was still outing, and James, who was shaking his rattle and giggling as though he were enjoying teasing Sirius.  "I came to see if you wanted help watching the boys today," she said.

Frank looked interested.  "That'd be cool," he said.  "I'm gonna be here though, so you don't have to."

Rose looked even more interested, though she quickly tried to hide it, shoving her hands deep in her pockets.

Lily and Arabella exchanged amused looks.  "We're gonna get going," Arabella said.  "We'll bring you guys lunch."

"And visit during History of Magic," Lily said.  She grabbed her books.  "See you later."

Frank gave them a wave, and Rosie stepped further into the room.

Arabella and Lily grinned at each other and led the way downstairs.

"They'll be a couple by noon," Arabella declared.

Remus and Peter looked puzzled.  "Huh?"

Neither Lily nor Arabella explained.

*~*~*

"One more day," Remus said out loud as he sank into his seat in the back of the classroom.   "One more day."

McGonagall glared at him, but continued on with the lesson.

Lily gave him a worried look and leaned over to whisper to him, though she made it look as though she were still paying attention. "Are you okay?" she asked.

He gave her a tired grin.  "I'll just be glad when this is over.  I just got attacked by a bunch of girls who wanted to go out with Jam-er, me sometime this weekend."

An odd twinkle came into her eyes, and he felt better.  It was good to see that she wasn't so sick that she couldn't plot and laugh.  "I wonder…"

"What's that?" Remus asked warily.

"Oh, never mind," she said, looking away.

He studied her.  She was up to something.  She had to know that he would just be even more curious now.  "What?"

She sent him a long look.  "You ever wondered what would happen if, uh, Sirius and J-er, you, stopped getting all the _female_ attention?"

Remus frowned.  "What do you mean?"

She fought back a giggle and leaned in a little closer.  "What if, say, Sirius and James were to announce that they were more involved than they'd previously let on?"

Remus rolled his eyes.  "Honestly, Lily, they're my best friends.  I wouldn't do that to them."  He snickered though.  "But it would be hilarious.

"Mr. Potter!  Ms. Evans!"

They turned towards the front of the room and found McGonagall scowling at them.  "While I am quite pleased to find that you are no longer at each others throats, I would appreciate it if you waited until _after_ class to talk and show affection."

True horror crossed Lily's face.  "Affection?" she spluttered out.  "E_eww_!" 

McGonagall's lips pursed.  "Five points from Gryffindor."

Remus decided he'd better speak up as well, and adopted a disgusted expression.  "Make it ten and let me change my seat!"  To add a finishing touch, because he was supposed to be sick, he coughed long and hard after making that announcement.  

McGonagall scowled and went back to the chalkboard.

Snape sat a few rows ahead and turned and smirked.  "First Lupin, now Potter.  Quite the little tramp, aren't we, mudblood?"

"Sod off," Lily said lazily, and leaned back in her chair.

The rest of the class, she and Remus did not talk to each other.

However, Snape and his friends hung around after class again, just after Arabella and Peter had gone off to check on Frank, Rosie, and the two kids.  "Mudblood, mudblood," Severus sang under his breath.  

McGonagall did not hear him, her attention on the stack of parchments on her desk.

Remus thought for a moment about what James would do.  He always got angry when someone said 'mudblood'.   "Slimy git, slimy git."

"Defending her, Potter," Severus wondered.  "A bit of a thing for her?"

"Oh, didn't you know?" Lily sneered.  "Jimmy and I have been screwing since Christmas.  Are you jealous, Severus?"

"Is Potter really a female then?" Severus returned.  "Because I've been hearing stories about you and your friend Arabella…"

"Wow," Lily said, amused.  "Is that your idea of something to upset me?  Honestly, you boys are so immature about everything.  Yes, that's it, I snog with Remus, and Potter, and Bella.  And you're all sad because I won't take a night off and go off with you."

Remus sighed.  "Come on, Lily," he said.  "Sad, but the air smells better around you than it does around him."

She sniffed at both of them, and nodded a little.  "Same goes for you."

Severus and his friends followed them out of the room. 

"How's Lupin doing?" Severus sneered.

Remus tensed and didn't look back.  Severus was, apparently, looking to fight.  He brought that up every time he was hoping to get James and Sirius in trouble.

Lily looked at him curiously, but didn't ask.  "There's Megan," Lily said, pleased.  

Remus was pleased as well.  Not only did he have an interest in Megan, she would also be enough protection so that Severus would back off.

Sure enough, Severus figured out he wasn't going to get a fight and stormed off.

Megan rushed up to him and placed a long kiss on his cheek, her lips lingering far longer than necessary.  Remus had to fight back a blush that would have been very unnatural on James.  "Hi, Meg," he said, and hoped James's voice didn't sound odd.  

She frowned suddenly.  "Oh, I'm such a dunce," she sighed.  "I forgot that you're not really… Well, who are you?  I hope I didn't just kiss Arabella or something."

"Shh," Lily murmured.  "Remus."

Meg smiled.  "Well then," she said.  "I don't feel bad about that kiss at all."

Another blush was fought back.  Remus was grateful they were going through a darker portion of the castle.  "Charms is next," he said.

Meg smirked.  "Oh, you don't need any more charm.  You're perfect just like this.  Though I think you're cuter the other way."

Lily stopped and gave them both an amused look.  "Should I leave now?"

Meg grabbed Remus/James's arm.  "Actually, yes.  See you in class."

Rolling her eyes, Lily turned away.

Remus looked back down at Meg.  "I think you're a bit confused," he said.  "I'm not Jim.  I'm Remus."

She smirked.  "Oh, trust me, babe.  I know exactly who you are."  She placed another kiss on his cheek.  "Why don't you save me a seat at dinner tonight, alright?  You, not James."

He wanted to, very badly.  But… "How about some time next week," he offered.  "I'm going to be watching the kids.  And we'll have the potion ready for them tomorrow."

"Great," she said, smiling.  

They reached the Charms classroom.  "Next time you're back to you?  Lemme know.  I just found a new broom closet…"

Smirking, she left him standing in the doorway.

*~*~*

Remus was on cloud nine because of Megan.  Or he would have been, had he not been in pain.  The full moon was two nights away, and he could feel it.  He skipped History of Magic and lunch, and took over watching the kids so Frank and Rosie could get out for a bit.  Frank was still too sick to go anywhere but the Common Room, but he wanted out of the bedroom.

When they returned, Remus unhappily drank the Polyjuice Potion and set off to the Divination class room again.

It was even worse this time.  They were working on crystal balls, and every time he looked at one, he was reminded of Boggart lessons from the start of the year…  His had turned into the full moon, and it had looked just like a crystal ball.

Lily knew that, and watched him worriedly, even as she nearly slumped down on the table, her face a little green tinged.

They both skipped Care for Magical Creatures.

Remus crawled into bed, grateful that Sirius and James were napping still.  He'd just about fallen asleep when James sat up and began looking around, and reaching for things on the nightstand that were not suitable toys.

The others were down in the Common Room or in the kitchens.  Remus sighed and got up.  "Alright, Jim, what do you want?"

James reached out and Remus picked him up.  He grabbed the Marauders Map off a desk and checked to be sure it was all clear downstairs.  "We'll go find Peter for you, alright? Or Lily or Bella."

"Il la."

"Illa?"

James beamed and then started babbling.

Remus sighed.  "I'll give you a bottle if you shut up."

James obviously did not understand, as his babbling continued.

Remus grabbed the blanket off the ground and carried it and James down the stairs.  

No one looked surprised by the sight of Little James, but at once, a large group of people- mostly girls, but a few guys- rushed over to look at the kid.

James was clearly quite pleased, and let one of the girls take him.  "Do you mind watching him for a bit?" he asked.  "I'm not feeling real well."

Amanda Stern grinned.  "Not a problem, Remus.  He's in good hands."

Remus gave her a grateful smile.  "Er, if McGonagall comes, well, she's not supposed to know…"

"We've got it covered," Amanda assured him.  "Where's Sirius?"

"He'll be up soon," Remus said grimly.

Sure enough, Sirius was sitting up and crying when Remus returned to the room.  Remus carried him downstairs as well, and then happily went back to take a nap.

He was asleep within minutes, dreaming of a blonde witch who went by Megan...

 *~*~*

Minerva McGonagall was not a stupid woman, contrary to the apparent beliefs of all of her students.

She knew that something was going on with James Potter and Sirius Black, and she was going to find out, come hell, high water, or whatever else there might have been.

Over the past few days, she'd seen more suspicious activity from the troublemaking Gryffindors than she had seen in the entire year.  All four boys, claiming to be sick… Potter and Evans getting along… Figg and Black standing next to each other and holding a whispered conversation as though they were the best of friends… And what was the explanation for not a single prank having been pulled during the week?

Minerva was not one to condone pranks.  Certainly not! She abhorred them!  But she'd grown used to the idea of Black, Potter, Lupin, and Pettigrew teaming up to pull some ridiculous, but very often fantastic, prank on someone in the school.

Something was most certainly up, and Potter's fumbling explanations from the previous day had done nothing to assure her.

Arabella Figg and Lily Evans were on their way down to the Common Room as well, and both looked surprised to see her.  "Professor," Lily said, and Minerva was certain she detected worry in her voice.  "Where are you off to?"

Minerva pursed her lips and paused, as good manners dictated.  "I'm off to visit Mr. Black and Mr. Potter."

The two girls exchanged looks that McGonagall didn't quite understand, and Arabella started backing away.

"I'll see you in a bit," Arabella said, her eyes wide.  "Er, excuse me professor."

She hurried off down the hall.

McGonagall frowned after her.

Lily laughed nervously.  "She, uh, she… I was meaning to ask you, Professor, if you had done something with your hair.  A hair cut perhaps?  It looks quite nice."

Minerva patted her hair self consciously, then dropped her hand.  "No, Ms. Evans.  I've not had time for such nonsense.  Thank you for inquiring, but I must be off."

If she didn't know better, she would have sworn that Evans was stalling her.

But why would Lily do that when she was on her way to lecture Potter and Black?  Everyone, even Dumbledore, knew that Evans and the two Gryffindor boys in question did not get along, the earlier Transfiguration lesson aside.

Minerva shrugged it off and started walking again. The redhead prefect kept up with her, chattering on.  "Uh, professor, do you know the date of the next Prefect meeting?  Oh, and have you started thinking about who might be good?  I made a list…" Lily paused right in front of her, digging through her bag.

Minerva scowled.  "Ms. Evans.  If you would like to talk with me about Prefect business, than I shall be happy to do so.  Later.  If you'll excuse me, I must be going."

She stepped around Lily and rounded the corner to the Common Room.

It seemed like nearly everyone was in the Common Room, and they were all acting rather suspicious.

No one was playing Exploding Snap, though there were cards set up.  

Homework was spread across the tables, but no one was sitting down to do it.  

Everyone was talking.  Everyone.  Even those who were normally incredibly studious were standing and chatting.

Minerva scowled.  "Where are Black and Potter?"

Lily came in behind her and shut the portrait hole.  McGonagall looked at her, frowning, and Lily gave her an innocent smile.

Megan Pierson gave her a charming smile.  She stood at the end of the couch, her arms crossed behind her, looking as innocent as Potter and Black did after they pulled a prank. McGonagall scowled more.  "They're, ah, up in their room.  They weren't feeling too well, so last I checked, they were resting."

"Where are Lupin, Pettigrew, and Longbottom?"

Megan looked slightly nervous.  "I think they said they were going off somewhere.  You know, a walk to get rid of their energy or something.  You know how those boys are." She laughed, and McGonagall detected nervousness in the laugh.

McGonagall scowled as she realized something else.  Why would Lupin be off on a walk to 'get rid of excess energy' when he was this close to the Full Moon?  She made her way over to the stair case that led up to the boys section.

Behind her, the students were still suspiciously quiet.

But someone giggled, and sounded so happy, McGonagall turned around.

*~*~*

Lily heard one of the kids start giggling, and her eyes flew open.

McGonagall turned around on the steps.

She and Megan exchanged panicked looks, and then did the only thing they could think of.  

They giggled as well, hoping to cover it up.

Their classmates caught on quickly, and soon everyone was giggling nervously- and in many cases, very obviously pretending.

McGonagall gave them a worried look, and continued up the stairs.

One of the boys snuck around and watched her go up.

No one dared move.  The boy gave them thumbs up, and a loud sigh of relief went through the Common Room.

"Where are they?" Lily hissed, not daring to speak too loudly.

Tina held up little Sirius, who looked around curiously, and Rosie held up little James, who had been the giggle culprit. 

Lily sighed and hurried over to them.  "Here's some candy for them," she said.  "Take them upstairs.  The rest of you just go back to doing your homework.  Honestly, no wonder Gryffindor always loses points.  You can't hide _anything_."

A little offended by her words, a little amused by the fact that she was covering for her enemies, the rest of the house went back to work.  Tina and Megan carried Sirius and James upstairs to the girls' rooms, disappearing just in time.

McGonagall came down the stairs, frowning even more.  "I'd like to see the rest of the Quidditch team."

Lily winced.  "Er, Rosie just went off.  I think she said she was going to the library."

McGonagall scowled.  

The other four players hurried over to her, including the rule-abiding captain, who still looked upset about having to lie.  McGonagall gave them each long looks.  "Potter and Black are ill," she said stiffly.  "They are unlikely to be playing at their best on Saturday.  I would be very pleased to see the rest of you at extra practice tonight and tomorrow, and find someone who could possibly sub.  I have no desire to see Slytherin beat us again, scrimmage match or not."

"Yes, mam," Mark said.  "We will do that.  We've got time at the pitch right after dinner already."

McGonagall looked faintly appeased.  "Well.  Good.  I'll expect to see you before the match on Saturday then."

Still looking a bit annoyed, she left the Common Room.

No one said anything until she'd closed the portrait hole behind her, and then they all spoke at once.

"I'm gonna kill them," Mark growled.

"What do we do if they're not back by then?"

"Oh, what else could go wrong?"

"If they're not back, can I take Jim's broom?"

"Ooh, I want Sirius's!"

Lily rolled her eyes and went up to find out what had happened.

*~*~*

"What a sickly lot," Peter muttered. 

Frank moaned.  He was Sirius.  "Sod off, Pettigrew."

Remus held his hand to his head. He was acting as James.  "Pete, go make sure everything's okay downstairs."

He had his eyes open enough that he saw Lily come in.  "It is," she said.  "What did McGonagall want with you?"

Peter made a face.  "I have to go to class tomorrow.  As me.  Or else she's gonna get mad."

"What did she do downstairs?" Remus asked.

Lily shrugged.  "McGonagall's told them to do extra Quidditch practice, that Sirius and James are pretty sick."

"You don't look sick any more," Frank accused.

Lily shrugged.  "I don't feel sick, either.  I guess I didn't get hit as bad as you."  She turned her green eyes on Remus, and he quickly looked away.  "What's wrong with you?" she demanded.  "Did you get sick from Frank?"

Frank scowled.  "Probably.  He's the sickliest chap I've ever met.  Gets sick more often than the rest of the school together."

Lily was more sympathetic than Frank and went to the side of his bed.  She reached over to feel his forehead, but Remus batted her hands away.  He didn't like people around him when he was like this.  Aside from the fact that they were noisy, he couldn't help himself, and usually snapped at them, whether they deserved it or not.  Usually, James, Sirius, Peter, and Frank deserved it, but Lily had been a lifesaver for them over the past few days, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

She rolled her eyes.  "Boys."

She disappeared into the bathroom, and when she returned, she looked much happier.  "I think the Potion should be ready on time, don't you?  I'm getting rather sick of rushing about and protecting those gits from McGonagall."

Remus wondered if that was the complete truth about why she wanted them back, but didn't comment.  "I think it's good.  Tomorrow night we'll finish it up and feed it to them."

Lily nodded, apparently pleased.  "Anyway.  We're off to get supper.  Would you like anything?"

"No."

"No."

"I'll go with you."

The last was, of course, from Peter, who jumped up, looking quite relived.  "I'm hungry, and they're awful right now."

Lily grinned.  "Right-o, Peter."

Cheerfully, the two went back downstairs and left Remus and Frank to their unhappy sickness.

**_The Chalkboard_   
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Everything MWPP!

No more until Monday at the earliest.  I'm off to start Christmas shopping!    
Want to give me an early present? Leave a review! :o)


	6. Friday

**…When Pranks Go Bad…**

By Zetta Zofia  
Disclaimer: Not mine, belong to someone else, yadda-yadda-yadda.  
Summary: When Pranks go bad, it's never good… Especially when you're dealing with Age Potions.  
Characters: MWPP, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, and More!  
Who's Who: McGonagall threatened Peter, so he has to go to class today.  Frank and Remus are _supposed_ to play Sirius and James, but Frank's still sick, and the full moon is one night away...  Isn't it awful that Severus knows about Remus?  Lily and Arabella find out a little more about werewolves when Severus taunts 'Sirius' and 'James'...   
Again, big happy thanks to all my reviewers!  (hands out pretty bouquets of flowers)  
One more note: My laptop is screwy, so I'm forced to work off of another computer.  I don't know for sure when the next (and last) chapter will be out.  Also, I'm having a few issues with the last chapter.  Anything you want to see happen?

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Everything MWPP!

**Chapter Six  
**- _Friday****_

"Want bubba."

"You just had one," Peter groaned.  "Shush up and go back to sleep."

"Want blankie."

Frank moaned and tossed a stuffed animal towards James's bed. He missed by several meters, and the plush toy bounced and landed between the beds.

Peter sighed.  "We _have_ to act like James and Sirius today," he said unhappily.  "Otherwise it'll be weird that they're really sick one day, and they're playing Quidditch another."

He picked James up off the bed and carried him over to Sirius.

The two screeched happily and began bashing each other with the stuffed animals.

"Oh, and going from what they were last night to perfectly healthy will be oh so natural," Frank argued, scowling at the two toddlers.

Remus sighed, only his mouth visible beneath the pile of blankets and pillows.  "Pete's right," he moaned.  "But Pete can't be missing any more school, or McGonagall'll go nutters.  You and I are in no shape to do it."

"You think Lily and Arabella will do it?"

Remus shifted a little, rolling on his side.  His breath was rather unsteady when he spoke again, and he was grinning a bit, the idea of it all amusing him, especially now that it was almost over.  "I don't think we have a choice but to ask them, unless you can think of someone else who could do it.  No Quidditch Players, because they can't miss the day before the match, none of their girlfriends- ex, current, or future, because they would kill us.  Then, out of that short list, we'd have to find someone who'd actually be willing to do it…  And how many people would, especially with all the abuse they'll take from the Slytherins today?  It's got to be Lily and Arabella."

"That's something that gets me," Peter sighed.  "Why is it that they're helping? I'd have thought they'd tell McGonagall in an instant."

This brought a small smirk to Remus's face.  "Do you remember when you were real young?  When you liked a girl, you'd hit her and then run away?"

It sat for a moment.

Then Frank turned and looked at him, and Peter's mouth dropped open.  "You think they like Jim and Sir?"

Remus shrugged a bit.  "Yes.  Actually, I think Jim likes Lily, and the other way around.  Sirius probably found out somehow and is keeping it a secret and helping Jim hide it.  Sir's not the type to purposely aggravate a girl- any girl- unless there's a good reason for it.   The only reasonable reason I can come up with is that he's covering for James- or he likes Bella too, but then, he likes a lot of girls. I'm not ruling out that he likes Arabella, though.  But if you watch Jim long enough, you can see he doesn't hate Lily like he says he does."

Peter was wide-eyed.  "Why wouldn't he tell us?"

"Because Sirius is James's best friend," Frank said, catching on.  "And hell, Sirius probably figured it out himself.  It's not like James is one to go around announcing who he likes and all."

Remus nodded.  "It took us until he asked Tina out to find out he liked her.  Er, rather, her finer attributes, anyhow."

"But why's he still tease her like this?" Peter wondered.

Remus sighed.  "It's hard to stop.  One year, he pranks her to death, the next year he stops?  It'd be weird for him."

"But why would Sirius help?" Peter wondered.  "I just have a hard time figuring out why they wouldn't just say something."

"And you're talking about Sirius and James," Remus reminded him.  "They've got a way of over-complicating even the simplest of things."

Peter frowned.  And then he jumped up off the bed, grinning.  "Are we Marauders, or what?  Come on, we've had the whole week to look for evidence, and we've been sitting on our arses…  Neither of them keep journals, but they're sure to have _something_!"

Sirius screeched.  "Um-fing!"  He nearly fell off the bed trying to emulate Peter, and Peter dove to keep him up.  He set Sirius on the floor, then James.  "What's good for breakfast?" he asked.  "I'll go get stuff, and then you guys can eat too, and then we'll explore a bit."

"Perfect timing then," Lily said from the door.  She and Arabella each had a large tray laden down with breakfast foods.  "You know, I've been thinking." Arabella closed the door behind her.  "If they're old enough to talk- even just this much- they probably don't need bottles."

"True," Peter agreed.  He cleared off one of the desks, sending parchment scraps and quills flying.  On top of it all, two thick, heavy books landed with a sharp thud.

Lily and Arabella exchanged looks, then set the trays down on the desk Peter had just cleared off for them.  "The house elves said they'd pick up the trays at about noon and bring enough lunch for whoever's staying with Sirius and James."

"Er…"

Remus forced himself to sit up, and saw Lily and Arabella's worried looks.  He sighed.  "I'm not going to make it to class today, and neither is Frank."

Lily straightened and Arabella pursed her lips.  They both knew what was coming.

Remus continued.  "McGonagall told Peter that if he missed any more class this week, she would give him detention."  He glanced at them.  "And, well, Sirius and James need to be in class today, still sick, but not as sick as yesterday."

"I haven't made it to all of my classes in a long, long time," Lily complained.  "How do you expect me to keep up if we're off playing pretend?"

"Don't forget," Peter said.  "We're doing your homework after this is all over.  You can afford to relax."

"Right!" But Remus frowned a little.  "But, ah… No suggestions about Siri and Jim's relationship with each other, all right? I assure you, they're quite straight, and would not see the humor."

Lily scowled.  "Oh, come on," she complained.  "You expect us to do this, but you won't let us have fun."

Remus gave them a tired grin.  "Well, any detentions you get won't have to be served until after Jim and Siri are back…"

It took a lot of begging, but the girls finally agreed.

*~*~*

Lily fought back the urge to throw the Crystal ball at the Divination teacher, and instead settled for drawing rude pictures on her parchment.

Or rather, James's parchment.

Arabella snickered and showed off her own work.

The teacher was oblivious though, and did not add a detention onto the two they'd already gotten for the day.

Charms had been a rather fun class, as Lily had never actually taken the time to screw around during class before.  But she'd decided that if Potter got away with it, well, he'd get away with it today, too.

Flitwick had not been amused when the feathers in the corner of the room came to life and decorated the classroom.  (Though he'd been amazed that Sirius and James had pulled it off with such skill!)

That had been the first detention.

The second had been when Arabella took credit for setting off a dung bomb under Flitwick's desk, and she and Lily got in an argument about whose idea it was, while Flitwick, Peter and the rest of the class watched in shock and amusement.

Bored, Lily wrote out (in her sloppiest, most James-like handwriting) "Phony", and then, when everyone else was engrossed in watching the teacher, she sent it to the front of the classroom and neatly attached it to the teacher's shirt with a simple gluing charm.

Then she and Arabella exchanged looks and pretended to be taking notes, while the rest of the class tittered.

The class was a short one, and the teacher had not noticed the sign by the end of class.

Pleased, Peter, Lily and Arabella started to the Astrology classroom.

Snape showed up, for once without his goonies right by his side.  They stayed back a ways.. "Potter, Black, and Pettigrew.  Where's your little friend Lupin?"

"Sod off, Sevvy," Arabella said, smirking just like Sirius did.

"We're gonna be late," Peter said, sounding worried.  He kept looking between Arabella and Lily and Severus, and his face was pale, and his eyes a little wider than they should have been.

Lily frowned.  Something was going on that she didn't know about.

"Full moon tomorrow night," Severus sneered, giving them something of a knowing look.  "You make sure Lupin's locked up all right, will you?"

Lily rolled her (James's) eyes.  "If anyone gets locked up, it'll be you."

Severus sneered.  "Fine then," he hissed.  "Don't lock him up.  I'll just be sure to have a nice, sharp silver knife.  It would be such a tragedy…"

He waited for a reaction.  Lily and Arabella exchanged confused looks, and Peter squeaked.  "We gotta go!" he said, and grabbed their arms, pulling them back.  

Severus stared after them.  "What?  No attempt to attack me? Black, you're so good at that, I thought you'd appreciate hearing another student would like to… encourage an accident to happen."

Peter pulled them along.  "Tell him to get lost," he hissed.  "Get real pissed."

Lily jerked her arm free easily.  "Say it again, grease ball."

Severus still didn't look satisfied.  "That's not right," he said slowly, taking a half step back.  He stared at them for a very long moment, looking completely puzzled.  "Black's the one to say that.  And both of them should be out sick... but if it's taking this long to react..."  He stared at them.  "Who _are_ you?"

Lily smirked as well.  "Si, have you been spiking Sevvie's punch again?"

Severus still stared at them, looking confused.  "What happened at the start of the year, Black?" he asked in a rather low voice.

Peter jerked on their arms, suddenly looking fearful.  "Shut up, Snape," he squeaked.  "Or-or they'll beat you up!"

Snape turned his gaze on Peter, but only for a moment.  "Shut up, Pettigrew.  Or I'll feed you to Lupin tomorrow."

Peter flinched, and Severus smirked slowly.  "So," he murmured.  "Who have we here?"

"Come on, Pete," Lily said, trying to sound as if she didn't care what Snape had said a moment before about Lupin, trying to act as though she didn't care about the implications of his statements.  But her mind was racing as she added up the facts, and what she was finding…

The threesome began walking, leaving Snape behind, but his taunts still in Lily's mind.  A quick glance over at her best friend showed similar thoughts, though it looked rather odd to see Sirius Black contemplating something so deeply.

They reached the Astrology classroom, which was not far from Divination.

Peter kept looking back warily.

"What was all that about?" Lily asked calmly.

Peter flinched.  "Er... It's not important.  But if, uh, he starts bothering you again, just get really mad at him.  Sirius usually shoves him against the wall and stuff, and James and Remus have to hold him back so he doesn't get expelled."  He looked worried.  "Uh, don't hit hit though, no matter what.  McGonagall and Dumbledore told Sirius that if he beat up Snape again, he'd get expelled.  They had a, um, incident a while ago, and now they aren't allowed to get in fights."

Arabella scowled.

Peter stared.  "Wow, you look just like him when he's thinking about Snape..."

They took their seats towards the back, and Peter sat across the aisle, where he and Remus normally sat.

Lily didn't dare talk about it, not in front of other people.  She grabbed a parchment and began scribbling on it, and for the rest of the hour, she and Arabella exchanged notes on what was going on, and what had gone on, with Remus, Sirius, and Severus Snape.

*~*~*

"Would Dumbledore let him come?" Arabella asked softly as they made their way down the stairs from their room, carrying Sirius and James with them.

Lily set James down and let him hang on to her hand and toddle over to the couches by the fire.

They glanced around the Common Room before they sat down, wanting to be sure Remus wouldn't be there and hear them.  "Apparently he would," Lily said.  She frowned.  "Maybe it's just because I'm Muggle-born, but I don't get what the big deal is.  I mean, big deal, one night a month he has major PMS."

Arabella laughed nervously.  "In our world, it's a really big deal." She glanced around and then leaned in closer.  "Most werewolves end up going Dark.  I'm amazed he's not in Slytherin, if it's true that he is one."

Lily scowled.  "Arabella Annabelle Figg, are you telling me that you think a sweet boy like Remus should be with the likes of Severus Snape and that git, Malfoy?"

James chortled. "Git! Git!"

Sirius screeched with glee and toddled towards him.  

Arabella looked abashed.  "Well, I'm just saying.  That's what most people think."

Lily frowned.  "I just don't get why it's such a bad thing.  I mean, it's not like they can control it or anything."

Arabella sighed.  "You're probably right, Lil.  But most of us were brought up to think that…werewolves should be avoided at all costs.  They're dangerous, they're scary, and if they get mad…"

Lily rolled her eyes.  "Oh, honestly.  Muggles with witches, and witches with werewolves.  It's pathetic!"

Arabella looked a little offended, and her tone was a lot colder.  "It's a fact of life, Lily.  They're _not_ like us."

"Not!" James echoed, and then began going through someone's backpack.

Lily gave her a cold look and took the backpack away from him.  "I'm not like you either.  Are you going to start calling me a mudblood?"

Arabella stood up, looking very angry.  "I'm trying to explain to you how it works in this world.  It's great that you don't agree, Lil, but you have to accept that it's the way we've been brought up.  Right or wrong, it's always been this way, and it always will.  It's not like Muggles are perfect either.  You're just as prejudice about certain things."

Lily pursed her lips.  "I didn't say we weren't.  I said that to be prejudice against… that particular creature is unfair."

Arabella put her hands on her hips and forced herself to lower her voice.  "Treating sick people as though they're criminals is unfair too, but I've seen the Muggles do that."

Lily sighed.  "And wizards do it too.  But they also pick on werewolves and everything else that doesn't have a choice about what it is.  Ara, I don't want to fight with you."

"We're not fighting," she snapped.  "We're having a heated debate."

A soft voice interrupted them.  "Who's winning?"

They both turned and found Remus watching them, a resigned look on his face that hinted that he had heard more than he was supposed to.

Lily looked sharply at Arabella, who shut her mouth and turned slightly away.

Lily looked at Remus again, and met his gaze.

He didn't say anything for a moment, then his mouth tightened a bit, and he looked resigned.  "Come on upstairs.  The potion's about an hour away from being ready, and I need to talk to you about… that."

"That that that that!" Sirius screeched.  He'd grabbed a paperback book off the table and was happily chewing on it.  Arabella made a face and took it from him, then picked him up.  She dropped the book on the table and hoped the owner hadn't seen.

Lily grabbed James and took a quill away from him, and they silently followed Remus upstairs, each noting that he seemed quite exhausted.  Quite a coincidence, it was the day before the full moon.

Only Peter was in the room, and he looked worried to see them.

"Frank went to the hospital," Remus explained as they entered.  "We decided that he didn't seem to be getting any better, and it was worth it to get him checked out."

"Great," Lily said, rather unenthusiastically.  She still wasn't too sure why she'd gotten better so much faster, but certainly didn't want to dwell on it.  At least, not until Potter was around to torment with it.

Remus slowly sat on the edge of his bed, then slid back.  Lily and Arabella took their seats on the edge of Sirius and James's beds, and they all sat so they could see each other.  Peter looked even more worried than Remus, who was rather pale and looked quite upset.  He sat cross legged on the end of his bed and looked at them.  "Peter said that Snape was talking with you earlier."

"He was talking with James and Sirius, you mean," Arabella reminded him.  She looked distinctly at ease, and crossed her arms in front of her.

Lily sighed and exchanged a long look with Arabella.  Arabella looked away first, and Lily frowned.  Did Ara really think that Remus was a horrible person all of a sudden?  She hadn't thought so a week ago, when they had agreed to help out... She looked back at Remus, who seemed to be struggling with the words.  "I'll make it easy for you," Lily said.  Remus looked wary, and Peter, worried.  "We filled in the blanks, all the stuff about the full moon, and how you're sick right now, and about once a month.  You're a werewolf."

It wasn't a question, but he answered with a slight nod.  "Dumbledore already knows.  So do most of the teachers.  James and Sirius and Peter figured it out at the start of second year.  Snape figured it out last year and… uh, got it confirmed earlier this year."

Peter and Remus exchanged grim looks, and Lily wanted to ask about that, but sensed that they wouldn't answer even if she did.  

Remus wouldn't quite look at either of them, though he other than that, he seemed perfectly comfortable.  "Frank doesn't know.  The only ones who know are, as I said, the staff, and those four, and, well, now you.  It's supposed to be a secret."

"It'll stay that way," Lily promised.

Arabella nodded tersely.  For a moment, the room was filled with tense silence.

Remus cleared his throat a little.  He looked a little upset, and Lily sensed that he'd noticed Arabella's feelings.  "I'm going to check on the potion," he said, and stepped into the bathroom.  He closed the door behind him.

The silence was awful.  Lily looked at Arabella, who crossed her arms and stubbornly looked away.

Peter jumped to his feet.  "You're awful!" he exclaimed, his face red and his small eyes glaring at them.  He'd been silent while Remus spoke, so Lily was a little startled by his sudden exclamation.  He looked furiously at Arabella, who turned and met his gaze.  He kept his voice low so that Remus wouldn't hear, and for a moment, struggled with words.  Then he found them.  "Do you have any idea how bad he already feels? That's why no one's supposed to know!  Because of people like you!"

Arabella pursed her lips but stayed silent.

Peter continued, still livid.  "It's not like it's his fault, anyway.  He got attacked when he was a little kid, and his brother died because of it, because of the same werewolf.  And then everyone found out and they had to leave town, and his life has been really bad!  And now you come along, and make him feel even worse."

It was the only time either of them had ever seen Peter so emotional about something- at least something that wasn't threatening him.

Arabella scowled.  "He's a werewolf!"

"He's a human being," Peter corrected.  He seemed to remember himself then, and his entire demeanor relaxed back to normal, and he looked almost embarrassed for speaking at all.  "He's really, really worried about people finding out and going crazy on him.  You should apologize."  He sat on his bed and slipped back into the shadows, avoiding their eyes.

Arabella stood up rather stiffly.  "I'm going for a walk."

Lily did not offer to join her, and watched as she slammed the door on the way out.

"'Ella!" Sirius screeched, half running after her.  He stumbled and fell on his bum.  However, he found a pencil, and happily began chewing on it, his stumble forgotten.

James was happily playing with a little toy Quidditch player.

Lily sighed and looked at Peter, who was staring at his hands now.  "You're really a good guy," she said quietly.  "Not a lot of people would stand up for anyone like that."

Peter's face flushed a little red.  "He's my friend."

Lily smiled a little, but then glanced at the lavatory door.  "Is he all right?"

Peter shrugged.  "He won't let anyone in.  James is usually the best at getting him to talk, and then Sirius will cheer him up.  They're not gonna be happy that you guys know.  Much less that they weren't around to help out with the telling part."

They both looked at the toddlers who were cheerfully bashing each other with pillows.

"They'll get over it," Remus said from the bathroom door.  Peter looked embarrassed for having been over heard, but Remus didn't notice.  He was rubbing his temples again, looking quite pained.  "I misjudged it.  Two hours.  So right after dinner."

Lily stood up and went to the doorway, and ushered him over to the bed.  "Lie down," she ordered.  "Peter, get a damp wash cloth, please."

He hurried to do as she ordered, and, much to Remus's amusement, Lily tucked him into bed, even pulling the sheet over him.  

She put the cloth over his forehead.  "Just close your eyes and rest," she said.  "I can't imagine what it's like, but I'm sure it's awful.  We'll be quiet.  Do you need anything?"

He was hungry, but he shook his head.  "Thanks."

She gave him a smile and pulled the curtains around his bed.

Then she and Peter sat down and played with Sirius and James.

*~*~*

Every year around Remus's birthday, the girls who liked him would bring him plates of goodies from the kitchens, and sweets from Hogsmeade.  His favorites were Sugar Quills and cupcakes.

When Arabella returned to the room about an hour and a half after she'd left, she carried with her a plate with several cup cakes and Sugar Quills.  She would never say the words, but it was her way of letting Remus know she was sorry.

He looked a lot better for her efforts, and they all sat down to discuss how the potion would work, a silent agreement to worry about the werewolf issue later on.

Remus was the one who'd done most of the research, so he explained.  "Because we have to be careful how old they get, they have to actually drink the potion.  Lily, if you could charm it to taste better…" Lily nodded slightly, frowning a bit as she thought about a charm that would work.  "The potion will knock them out for a bit.  It uses up a lot of energy because they'll be growing from such a young age.  They'll probably be knocked out for the rest of the night, and won't wake up until morning."

They all looked disappointed.

"I really wanted to see Potter's face," Lily grumbled.

Arabella pouted.  "And I _really_ wanted to show Black the pictures."

Remus and Peter exchanged looks, and Remus shrugged.  "They've got Quidditch in the morning, so they'll be up bright and early.  Come by then, before the scrimmage."

"You have pictures?" Peter asked, grinning.  "That'll be awesome.  Did you make copies?"

Lily nodded, smirking.  "More copies than they could dream of getting rid of."

"Let's get this done," Arabella said.  

Remus hesitated.  "Er… Maybe you two shouldn't be here.  I mean… uh, well, they'll be growing back to their normal size, and clothing might be a problem."

Lily's lips twitched.  "I don't want to miss them if they're conscious.  We'll just turn our heads."

She and Arabella exchanged amused looks, and Remus and Peter exchanged worried ones.

But Remus decided that he didn't have a chance of winning an argument against them, not with how he felt at the moment. "Let's get everything ready first," he said instead.  "Pete, can you get me two of those sipping cup things?  They won't drink it fast enough if it's in a bottle."

Peter went to get the cups, Lily to charm the drink, and Arabella got the boys ready.

It took another few minutes, but then everything was set up and ready to go.

"You guys thirsty?" Remus asked, crouching down in front of James and Sirius.  Both boys wore their regular size boxers and t-shirts, and they were all hoping that that would be decent covering for them.

"Bubba!" Sirius screeched, his eyes on the sipper cup.  He reached out for it and took it from Remus, and then began sucking it down at once.

James, however, was not so eager, and continued playing with the toys they'd collected for them over the week.

Sirius sucked all of his down right away.  "More!" he commanded.

But then he got a funny look on his face, and sat down.  "Nap," he commanded, much quieter than they had seen before.  He blinked several times, suddenly fighting off exhaustion.

"Let's get him in bed," Remus said.  "We can't leave him lying on the floor all night."

"Who says?" Peter wondered, but picked him up and put him in bed.  He pulled the covers over him.  "How long does the potion take?"

"A while," Remus said, shrugging.  "Okay, Jim, drink up."

James looked at him, and stood up, the clothes he wore barely staying on, and that only because of the Belt Charm they'd put on him.  "No."  He toddled over to the desk and began trying to pull the trays of the top of it.

"No, James," Remus scolded.  "Come here."

James went under the desk.  He sat down in the very back corner, brought his knees to his chin, and peered out at them with oddly serious eyes.

"I would have though Sirius would be the difficult one," Peter sighed.  He glanced at Sirius again.  "Whoah…"  Sirius had grown, and looked to be about five or six years old now.  "It's working."

Smirking, Lily and Arabella both moved to see.

"Can you get him?" Remus asked, his attention still on James.  His face was white with tension and he was rubbing his temples again.

"Yeah," Peter said.  "Just go lie down.  I'll make sure he drinks it."

Remus nodded a bit.  "Thanks."  He sat down on his bed, leaning against the post so he could still see.

Peter took the cup and sat on the floor near the desk.  "Hi, James," he said.  "You thirsty?"

Little James shook his head.

On the bed across from Remus, Sirius snorted.  He looked a little older now, about eight.

"I'll give you… a cookie."

Still, James shook his head.  "Want mamma."

Peter sighed.  "If you drink this up, I promise that you can go see your mum, all right?"

James's lower lip jutted out and he lowered his forehead to rest on his knees.

"Oh!" Arabella said. "Quidditch.  Maybe he wants to go for a broom ride."

Peter was hopeful.  "You wanna go for a broom ride, Jim?"

The little head looked up, and he looked excited.  "Broom! Broom!"

Peter handed him the cup.  "Drink up," he ordered kindly.  "Then you can go fly all you want."

James snatched the cup out of his hands and slurped eagerly.

Sirius snorted in his sleep.

Remus glanced over at him and grinned.  Sirius looked just like he had in their first year, except his hair was a bit longer.

James finished the cup.  "Good job," Peter said. 

"Broom."

"Nap first."

James's face crumpled up.  "BROOM!"

Peter winced.  "How about I let you hold onto the broom while you nap?"

James still pouted, but looked a little less annoyed. His eyes were already drooping.

Peter reached under the desk and pulled him out.  He carried him over to the bed.  "Just a minute," he said when James looked ready to cry.  

Peter went to the closet and returned with the broom.  James held it close to him and closed his eyes tight.

Then he opened them real fast,, and closed them  again.

Lily grinned.  "Ten galleons says he thinks he's going to go for a ride as soon as we're not looking."

Peter was puzzled.  "But he'll be asleep, won't he?"

Remus sighed.  "I think she meant that he thinks he's going to, and that's why he's going along with it."

Peter caught on.  "Ohh…"

Sirius snorted and they all looked.  He was just about to his proper age, and decently covered.  

"He was a lot better the other age," Arabella said mournfully.

Remus shrugged.  "After the tomorrow, we can send them back to toddlers.  By accident, of course."

Peter looked interested.  "You think they'd let us?"

Lily sighed.  "A girl can hope."

Remus laughed.  "A guy can too."

It took about ten more minutes for Sirius to reach his proper age.  It was another ten after that before James was full size.

They did not seem to be going to wake up any time soon, even after Peter shook James's shoulder, so the girls sadly left for their room, hoping they would see them first thing in the morning.

**_The Chalkboard_****   
**(http://www.sphosting.com/chalkboard/)   
Everything MWPP!

One chapter left! 

**Chapter Seven  
_- Saturday_**  
The Quidditch Scrimmage, the embarrassment, and a whole bunch more! (Ideas welcome!)


	7. Saturday

**...When Pranks Go Bad...**

By Zetta Zofia  
Disclaimer: Not mine, belong to someone else, yadda-yadda-yadda.  
Summary: When Pranks go bad, it's never good… Especially when you're dealing with Age Potions.  
Characters: MWPP, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, and More!  
Who's Who: Er… didn't you get the memo? Everyone back to their proper age again!

**_The Chalkboard_   
**(http://www.sphosting.com/chalkboard/)   
Everything MWPP!

**Chapter Seven  
**_- Saturday_

Neither woke up at their normal time the next morning.

Remus woke up early, as he never slept well this close to the full moon, and waited patiently for James and Sirius to wake up on their own.

But when Peter had woken up and Frank had returned from the hospital, and the two were still asleep, he decided it was time to get some fun out of the miserable week.  He went over to James's bed and cheerfully pulled back the curtain, pleased to see James's eyes fly open and his hand come up to block the sun from hitting him in the face.  He looked exhausted, but Remus was cheerful enough to find that more humorous than bad. "Good morning, Jimmy-kins," he said, waving a rattle in his face.  "Are you awake yet?  It's time for your bubba."

James blinked sleepily and stared at him, a truly horrified expression on his face.

Remus laughed out loud and went merrily on his way to Sirius's side, throwing the curtains open and shaking his shoulder.  "Good morning, ickle Siri.  It's wake up time!  If you're real good today, we'll find you a nice teddy bear to play with!"

Peter was laughing so hard he was red faced and looked near tears, and Frank, who had returned from the hospital wing the previous night, was doubled over in his bed, he was giggling so much.

Sirius looked pale.  

"Do you need your diapers changed yet?" Remus cooed, a big grin on his face.  "We could call in Lily or Bella.  I'm sure they'd do it."

James slowly sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, his face white as a sheet.  He looked over at Sirius and the two normally boisterous boys were both very quiet for a moment.

Then Sirius groaned and rubbed his eyes as well.  "Oh god.  I'm sore all over, and I don't remember… What the hell's going on?"

"What parts do you remember?" Remus asked with a wide grin.  "The part where you've been little kids for a week?  The part where me, Frank, and Peter… and Lily and Arabella have been pretending to be you all week so that you wouldn't get discovered?"

"Lily and Arabella?" James repeated, horrified.  He'd been sure he'd imagined it when Remus made the diaper joke.

"What the hell?" Sirius asked at the same time, looking equally aghast.

"Oh, you know the Polyjuice Potion?" Remus asked.  They both nodded, very slowly, as though they didn't really want to know.  They were going to find out anyway.  "Well, I'd have to say the best part of this week was when Lily and Arabella used it and were pretending to be you two.  Quite funny, really.  Though I'm not so sure you'll enjoy the fact that you've no longer got any dates for the rest of the month and there are a few… rumors going around about your relationship with all of us, James."  Sirius snickered, but Remus continued.  "Oh, and Arabella had to say that she was going out with you, Sirius.  You two snuck off several times for a snog.  Certain ladies you had dates with were not very happy."

Sirius choked and it was James's turn to be amused.  But only a little.  

Peter nearly fell off the bed and Frank laughed harder.

"Well," Remus said cheerily.  "I'd expect the girls to be up here soon.  You might want to get your asses dressed.  Though they've certainly seen more of you than just your asses since they've changed your diapers."

If possible, they looked even worse.

But they quickly climbed out of bed.

"You've got a Quidditch match in three hours," Remus said, still grinning. "And after that, you've got to get started doing homework.  After all, you're going to be doing Bella and Lily's, mine, Frank's, and Peter's, too.  And you won't be pranking the girls, or giving them any nicknames, either.  That was part of the deal."

"And the other part," Peter said, grinning.  "With the cloak?"

"What about the cloak?" James demanded, pulling his shirt on.

"Lily and Arabella get it."

James looked more horrified by that than anything else.

"After tonight, anyway," Peter said with a quick look at Frank.  "We came up with a prank to pull."

"Well," Remus said.  "You haven't practiced all week, but you've got an advantage.  Monday, Snape threw some kind of powder at Lily and Frank when they were pretending to be you.  So, we've been pretending to be sick all week."

"No pretending here," Frank grumbled.  

"Anyway, the Slytherins think you guys are down with some horrible sickness," Remus continued.  "So, you'll be able to stun them when you show up on the pitch and are fully yourselves."

"That's assuming they can still fly right after a week with no brooms," Frank said.

"And they might know," Peter said.  "Er, Snape might have figured it out when Lily and Arabella were acting like you.  He mentioned something about… the you know what incident."

Sirius and James paled even more.

"Oh yeah.  Your broom is in the closet, Sirius, and James, you slept with yours."

James went over to the bed and pulled out his broom, looking at it worriedly.  For a moment, he looked like he was going to ask why he'd slept with it, but then quickly changed his mind.  "What day is it?"

"Saturday," Remus answered.  "You missed a week."

"A week?" Sirius repeated, dumbstruck.  "Oh crap."

"You owe us big time," Frank said.  "Covering for your asses like this."

"You'd better get out to the Quidditch pitch," Remus said, finally taking a little pity on them.  "We'll run down and snatch some breakfast for you, and you can work on flying again."

He threw his arm around James in a friendly way and leaned in, as though offering him a secret.  "You know, if you hurry, you might even avoid seeing Lily and Bella until after the match."

The two rushed out of the room, most of their clothes still in their arms.

Remus, Peter, and Frank looked at each other.  "Should we have told them that most of Gryffindor knows?" Peter wondered.

Remus grinned.  "Why don't we let them find out on their own?"

The three snickered.

*~*~*

"I don't remember most of it," Sirius said as he and James hurried down the halls, buttoning their shirts, knotting their ties, pulling on their sweaters and their robes.  "Do you?"

"Sitting on the floor a lot," James answered grimly.  "And something about Lily holding me."

Sirius winced.  "This isn't going to be fun, Jimmy."

"I think that's obvious, Siri,"

"You know I'm probably going to have to thank her or something?" Sirius complained a moment later.  "Why couldn't they have kept their mouths shut and said we were sick or something?"

James gave him an unhappy look.  "Both of us at once, for a whole week?  McGonagall wouldn't go for it."

"Well then why couldn't they have just done it themselves? Why'd they have to get Bella to help?"

"And Lily," James reminded him, scowling.

Sirius sent him a pitying look and pushed the doors open that led out to the pitch.  "This is unbelievable.  I don't think I even want to know what happened over the past week."

"You think we could make them all forget?" James wondered.  "A memory potion or two?"

Sirius snorted.  "Come on, Jim.  I'd bet my broom that they've got pictures tucked away somewhere, and if they ever found them… Well, it wouldn't work."  He sighed unhappily and mounted his broom.  James did the same.  "I think we're going to be black mailed forever."

James sighed as they flew towards the broom shed.  "I think you're right.  But we've got more important things to worry about.  The scrimmage starts in… two and a half hours.  We'll fly for a bit, take turns tossing the ball for a while, and we'll sneak into the kitchens and grab some breakfast.  And pray we aren't seen."

Sirius nodded vehemently.  "I can't wait for the match," he said.  "I really need to beat something."

James agreed.

*~*~*

Lily and Arabella slept in past their alarm clocks.

They threw on their clothes and rushed over to the boys' room, but found that Sirius and James had already left.

But Peter cheerfully suggested that they could all bring them breakfast at the Quidditch Pitch and tease them a bit.  "We didn't tell them that everybody in the house knows," he added.  "We're going to wait until after the scrimmage, so they don't get any more distracted."

Of course, there was always the chance that someone would mention it sooner…

As they walked down to the pitch, Lily was amused to find that it was the first time she'd ever looked forward to seeing them, their week as little kids not counting.

The two boys were high in the air when they reached the pitch, and Lily could barely make them out, tossing a ball back and forth.  It had to be the Quaffle.  One of them got a hold of it, did some sort of fancy dive to get around the other, and they were in a race to the goals on the other end.

The Quaffle flew through the hoop and dropped towards the ground, right around where they were standing.

Lily let a smirk cross her face as they approached.

The two boys on brooms let the Quaffle drop and slowly made their way down, their expressions showing that they were not entirely thrilled to be seeing the group.

Lily clucked her tongue and pretended to sniff as they reached a reasonable height, hovering about a meter above the ground.  "Look how fast they grow!  Just yesterday, they were little and cute and sweet, and now they're these big assholes again!"

Arabella 'awwed' and sighed.  "I remember, what was it, Wednesday, that I was changing their diapers, and now they're big boys… It's so adorable!"

Their faces nearly matched their uniforms.  "Sod off," Sirius muttered unhappily.  

"Language, Mr. Black," Lily scolded.  "I'll wash your mouth out with soap.  Or worse for you, let the pictures get out."

James scowled and Sirius sighed and shook his head.  "I told you it wouldn't work."

James dropped to the ground.  "Look," he said unhappily.  "We owe you, we admit it.  But we've got half an hour 'til the match.  Can we talk about it after?"

Lily smirked and pinched his cheek.  "Of course, Jimmy-kins."

He flushed. "Sod off," he muttered, and took off on his broom again.

Sirius dodged Arabella's efforts to do the same thing and took off after him.

Giggling, the two girls led the way up the stands, and watched the two boys fly around and generally do anything to avoid looking in their direction.

*~*~*

Mark was the first to arrive at the pitch and his glare informed James and Sirius that he Knew.

Sirius bit back a groan and followed James down to the locker rooms.

Mark would probably have killed them, but James and Sirius both stayed back far enough that he couldn't reach them.

"Your pranks," he hissed.  "A whole week!  What were we supposed to do if it hadn't turned out right?  Do you have any idea what would have happened if we lost this match?"

"Er…"

"Slytherin would have gloated about it for months!  We aren't even playing them for two more months, yet here you are, trying to give them the chance to glorify everything for _two months_!"

Then he paused, looking horrified.  "You _are_ James and Sirius now, aren't you?"

"We are," James answered.  "Look, Mark, we know we screwed up," he continued reasonably.  "But right now, Si and I need to be practicing.  You know, make sure we're still good to go."

That got them out of further lecture.  Mark nodded grimly.  "Right.  Rosie went out to gather the rest of the lot, but until they get here, I'll play Keeper, and James, you shoot on me.  Sirius, you're on ball retrieval, but I want you to try and hit the posts with the club until Rowen can help you out with the Bludger."

James shot Sirius an amused smirk and led the way up into the air.

Sirius scowled and followed, noting the way James glanced over at the bleachers twice.  That made Sirius smirk, and, not for the first time, he debated the merits of mentioning to Lily that a certain Gryffindor had a bit of a crush on her...

Rosie and the rest of the team showed up within a matter of moments after that, and James and Sirius stayed up in the sky while Mark shouted instructions at the rest of the team.

Soon they were all in the air.

They didn't land until the Slytherins showed up, and the stands began to fill.

Rosie sauntered over to Sirius, and he forced back a groan when she pinched his cheek.  "Awww," she cooed.  "How is ickle Siri doing this morning?  Want your bottle?"

He gave a silent thanks to James, who was serious enough about Quidditch to ignore the giggles and embarrassment of the situation.  James scowled fiercely at her.  "We've got a match in less than ten minutes, Rosie," he said impatiently.  "Can we try and concentrate?"

From anyone else, there would have been accusations of him trying to put off the embarrassment, but James Potter had always put Quidditch first, taking priority over even their best jokes.

The team exchanged amused looks, but they all settled down and began to discuss the finer points of the strategy.

*~*~*

The scrimmage was fast and exciting, and very, very bloody.

The Slytherins were quite shocked to see James and Sirius in their uniforms and on the pitch, and the two dark haired boys sent them smirks.  They put on quite a good show, making it look as though nothing had ever been wrong with them.

The Slytherins were not happy.

When the match started, so did the cheap shots.  There were four penalties to Gryffindor, three of which were scored on, and two to Slytherin, one scored on, within the first fifteen minutes of the game.

The Beaters were being particularly brutal, and James got a bloody nose within another ten minutes from a Bludger.  

James was pissed off then, and scored four times, making it look as though it were easy.

Shoving, kicking, punching, hitting, elbowing…

Everything that could be done was being done.  Both Keepers were having rather poor games, though some of the saves they made were incredible.

But then, so were the goals scored against them.  

Like it or not, both teams had to admit that they were up against a worthy opponent.  (Though James always excluded the Slytherin Keeper, Snape, from comments like that.)

The score was 170 to 130 in favor of Slytherin when the Snitch was spotted by Gryffindor.

The chase began.

James threw the Quaffle through the loop and dove after it again, racing the Slytherin Captain for it.

The Seekers chased the Snitch around the field. 

"Beaters!" The Slytherin captain screamed when he couldn't reach the Quaffle through James.  "Get rid of their Seeker!"

The Gryffindor Seeker nearly had the Snitch, flying a little above James.

One of the Slytherin Beaters got ready to swing his bat and send the Bludger towards him.

There was no one else near the Seeker, and James sighed.  He flew up and tossed the Quaffle to a fellow Chaser, and then carefully flew between the Seeker and the Beater.

The Beater screamed at him and flew closer, and then, when he figured out that James wasn't going anywhere, and the other Bludger was in the hands of the Gryffindor Beaters, he sent the Bludger at James.

It hit him in the side and sent him upside down on his broom, and made his breath come short, but he'd felt worse.  He gritted his teeth swung himself upright again.  The crowd roared- partially with relief, partially with anger, and partially, with disappointment that they wouldn't see him fall a hundred meters and meet the ground.  Of course, the last came mostly from the Slytherins.

The Gryffindor Beaters sent the Bludger towards the Slytherin Beater who'd done it, and he yowled in agony and swung as hard as he could, aiming at one of the other Gryffindor Chasers.

The Bludger hit the Chaser, and sent him spiraling towards the Earth, just as the Gryffindor Seeker caught the Snitch.

Screams came from the stands, the Gryffindors cheering and the Slytherins howling with complaints.

The Beater who'd hit James chose to make a rude comment to Sirius, and Sirius flew at him, dropping his club and abandoning his gloves.

The rest of the teams rushed forward, and James sighed and joined the fight.

*~*~*

The casualties from the Quidditch match weren't too serious.

One bloody nose for James, one black eye for the Gryffindor captain, one unconscious Chaser (from the fall he'd taken after the Bludger hit him), and a mild case of the measles for the Keeper, who'd been hit by a curse.

The Slytherins were in similar states, with Snape being the unconscious one after someone punched him and knocked him off his broom, but Pomfrey and some of the teachers kept the students separated so things couldn't get worse.

Sourly, James thought they should have separated the teammates from each other as well.  If he heard one more comment about 'ickle Jimmy-kins' or 'Jimmy-poo' or was giggled at one more time, he was fairly certain that he was going to shove a broom up a cavity it wasn't supposed to enter in the person who dared say it.

Things did _not_ get better when Lily, Arabella, Remus, and Peter arrived and joined in on the taunting, and neither Sirius nor James were too upset when everyone who was not injured was kicked out of the room.

*~*~*

"If we get 'em one at a time it won't be as bad," Sirius said as they walked slowly back to the Common Room.  They were still in their Quidditch robes, and neither had showered yet.

"Yeah," James agreed.  "Even better if we go at them separately.  They can't be as awful about it because there's only one of us there to make fun of."

"Right," Sirius agreed slowly.  They walked in silence for a moment, and then Sirius spoke.  "But that'll take longer.  So.  You get Arabella first, I'll get Lily?"

"Why that way?" James asked slowly.

"Well," Sirius said.  "Lily likes you less than she likes me.  If I go to her first, I'll take away some of her, er, desire to humiliate you.  And vise versa of course."

"Of course," James agreed, amused. "But if we go together, then it won't be as bad either, because she can't make fun of both of us at once as easily."

Sirius frowned, considering that.  Then he looked up.  "Do we really have to do this?" Sirius asked suddenly.  "I mean, the worst that could happen is they'd show the pictures to the school.  Well, I made a rather cute baby, I'm sure, so would that be so horrible?"

James gave him another amused look.  "We were planning on using it on Snape, remember?  And I doubt there're all that many people who wouldn't figure that out pretty fast.  Plus we'd get Remus and Pete and Frank in trouble if the teachers saw the pictures."

"Oh," Sirius said miserably.  "Did I ever mention I suck at thanking people who I don't really want to thank?"

"Sirius, you suck at thanking people for everything, apologizing for everything, and pretty much anything that might make you seem like you're not the best in the world."

Sirius grinned.  "That's because I _am_ the best and I shouldn't have to apologize and or thank anyone."

"Thank the gods that's not true."

They'd reached the Common Room.  They exchanged a long look, said the (Lily-picked) password ("dirty diapers") and went in.

Most of their classmates were there, celebrating the victory loudly.  Scrimmage or not, it was always a happy occasion when Gryffindors triumphed over Slytherins.

But this occasion was not just happy because of that, as James and Sirius discovered quickly.

Upon walking in, their classmates went quiet, turning to look at them.

Their Quidditch teammates had been elected to speak, and grabbed them by the hands and pulled them to the fireplace, and then up on the hearth in a place where most of the room could see them.  "In thanks for playing such a spiffing game," Rosie said grandly, handing them each a wrapped box.  "We would like to present you with this little token of our appreciation."

James got an uneasy feeling and looked over at Sirius.

He looked just as worried.

But they opened their presents.

Inside, they had each received a pacifier, and a picture of their younger selves sitting on the couch, surrounded by most of their classmates.

"Ga-ga-goo-goo!" someone giggled, and the rest of the house nearly fell over laughing.

Arabella let out a particularly loud laugh, and pointed.  "Look!" she exclaimed, giggling madly.  "They're blushing!"

James closed his eyes and leaned his head back, horribly embarrassed, and finding the fact that his blush had been announced to the world to be doubly traumatic.

A quick glance at Sirius showed he was in the same boat.  Sirius scowled at all of them.  "We were trying to do everyone a favor, and get rid of that git for a while, and you're making fun of us?"

Rosie nearly fell over, she was giggling so hard.  "Yes!" she and Frank shouted at once.

"It was so f-f-funny," Megan giggled, leaning on Remus.

"Come on," Remus said, taking pity on them.  He looked very tired.  "Let them in and have a rest.  I want to hear how Snape ended up after the fight."

*~*~*

Remus still had a full hour before he had to sneak off to get to the Shrieking Shack, and while he felt horrible, he had every intention of enjoying Sirius and James's issues.  He sat down on the couch near Megan, Frank, and Rosie, and across from Peter, Sirius, James, Lily, and Arabella.

Peter's face was bright red from laughing, and Lily and Arabella were having trouble breathing, they were laughing so hard.  

Megan grabbed his arm and leaned on him for support, not noticing the way he grimaced a little.  He was always extra sensitive when it came this time of month, and even the lightest touch- hers, for example- could be painful.

But she rested against him, and he found that it wasn't really all that awful.  "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." Sirius and James snapped.

"They-they-they were _thanking_ us," Arabella howled, and doubled over again, clutching her stomach and laughing.

Lily was near tears, she was laughing so hard.  "It was so _funny_!"

Remus glanced at Peter, who was leaning on the back of the couch, behind Arabella.  "Their faces," he gasped, holding his stomach.  "You missed it! It was great!"

"Oh, sod off!" Sirius exclaimed, jumping up.  "It's not like we did anything to be ashamed of.  We didn't have any control over any of it!"

His indignation did nothing to stop the laughter, but in fact, increased it.

Remus chuckled a bit.

"We were telling them about some of their adventures," Frank added, one arm around Rosie, who kept looking at him, as though afraid he would go away.

"And the pictures!" Lily snickered, gesturing towards the pictures on the table.

"It's not funny!" Sirius insisted.  "What if we'd been stuck that way!"

"Arabella would have been happy to be your mummy," Lily taunted him.

Sirius snarled at her.  Arabella glared.

Everyone else giggled.

James, however, was being very quiet... suspiciously so.

"Did you block up your ears again?" Remus asked him, scowling suspiciously.  The last time James had embarrassed himself (by loosing his pants during a friendly game of Quidditch) he'd done a spell so he couldn't hear people making fun of him any more.

James shook his head, but still didn't look up, keeping his face covered by his hands.

They all noticed now, and looked at him.

"Embarrassed, Jimmy-kins?" Lily taunted, looking very satisfied.

It was then that Remus noticed his shoulders were shaking.

James finally looked up... and _laughed_.

And he laughed harder, nearly rolling off the couch.  "It's so bloody funny," he gasped.  "It was _perfect_!  The best one we've ever done, except it was _us_!  We've _got_ to make more of it!"

Sirius slowly lost his scowl and smiled a bit.  "You know..." he said slowly.  "Maybe you're right."  He paused for a moment.  Then he started grinning too, and then slowly, started laughing.

Remus couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

But Arabella smiled sweetly.  "I found it _very_ funny when I changed your diapers.  Gee, Sirius, I hope it doesn't stay that little _forever_."

It brought a fresh round of giggles to the group, except for Sirius, who looked as though he didn't know _how_ to react.

"It'll be even funnier when we've got your little cloak, won't it James?" Lily asked, smirking at him.

He lost his smile.  "I didn't make that deal with you, Evans."

"Uh oh," Peter muttered.  "He's calling her Evans again."

James glared at him.

Lily crossed her arms in front of her.  "I pretended to be you for two days, Potter.  I had to wear your clothes and sit in your seat and act like an immature git for two days.  The very least you can do is let me have the cloak for a few bloody days."

"She said bloody!" Arabella gasped, then snickered.  "Ooh, she's getting pissed."

Remus hid a smile, but Megan, Frank, Rosie, and Peter laughed out loud.  

Lily sent Arabella an annoyed look.  "You're supposed to be on my side, remember Arabella?"  She turned to glare at James again.  "The cloak, homework, no pranks and no nicknames."

"No nicknames," James agreed.

Sirius scowled.  "Damn it!"

"No pranks."

Sirius jumped up.  "James!"

"We can't be expected to do all of your homework," James continued.  "We don't have enough time, and even if we did, we'd just be copying the same thing over and over again."

"I don't really think it's fair," Remus agreed, giving Lily a helpless shrug.  "That's asking a lot."

Lily frowned at him.  "I don't think you should be chiming in here, Lupin."

"You're right," James said.

They all looked at him.

He shrugged.  "How about you and I discuss this stuff tomorrow night in Hogsmeade, Evans?"

Lily stared at him.

So did everyone else.

Remus fought another smirk.  So, he'd been right about James....

Sirius caught his gaze, and they exchanged amused looks.

"All right," Lily said, sounding a bit shocked, and a lot quieter than normal.  She looked somewhat stunned.

Arabella snorted.  "Anyway, Black.  Did I show you the picture of you and Jimmy in Remus's lap?"

James, who looked somewhat surprised by what he'd just asked of Lily, cleared his throat as he stood up.  "Sirius, Pete, Remus.  We've gotta get going."

Lily and Arabella both gave him sharp looks.

Remus glanced at James, suddenly a little worried.  No one had told him that the two girls now knew...

But James had caught the looks from the girls, and glanced at Remus warily.

He glanced worriedly at Megan and forced a little smile onto his face.  "You'll excuse us, I hope," he said.  "We were trying to work out something when they turned into toddlers."

Megan rolled her eyes.  "I'll see you at breakfast then," she said.

"Don't wait up," Sirius said to Frank.  

"It's getting late," Remus noted.  "Let's go."

The four boys stood.

"Can I have a word with you?" Lily asked sweetly, looking anything but sweet.

Peter swallowed again.  "I'm gonna... er, go somewhere now."

"No, don't," Lily insisted.  "It'll only take a moment."

Peter gulped.

Remus did too, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for what was going on.

Hands on her hips, she followed them over towards the portrait hole, and gave them a piercing stare.  "Explain."

"We're going to play a prank," Sirius said, glancing at Remus and Peter.

"Somehow I find that hard to believe," Lily said snappily, giving Remus a long look.

James's mouth dropped open a little, as did Sirius's, as they both caught what she was implying.  "An explanation would be nice," James said, looking to Remus.

Remus gave Lily a terse smile.  "Can we talk about it tomorrow?" he asked, playing up his weakness as much as he could.  "I need to... get going."

Her expression softened a bit and she nodded. "All right then," she said.  "But in the morning..."

He gave her a quick smile and thanked the gods that he would be in the hospital for all of Sunday, and wouldn't have to see her.

*~*~*

"They're hiding something else," Lily mused later that night, lying in bed and staring at the canopy above her.

Arabella nodded, agreeing, and stretched out on her bed, shifting until she was comfortable.

They sat in silence.

"So you and James?" Arabella asked.

Lily shrugged, hiding a smile.  "We're just going to work out a deal for the cloak."

Arabella's lips twitched.  "Right," she drawled.

Lily continued to stare at the canopy, her lips curved up a little.

Arabella laughed.  "So, you guys go out, fall in love, get married, have kids... You don't think it'll be awkward knowing that, not only have you changed his diapers, but so have half the girls in the tower?"

Lily threw a pillow at her.

The End.

(Finally.)

**_The Chalkboard_   
**(http://www.sphosting.com/chalkboard/)   
Everything MWPP!

First off, apologies to everyone.  The past two weeks have been somewhat awful.  I broke my (favorite) Uncle's lap top.  Fortunately, I managed to get everything off of it before it totally died, but I no longer have computer access whenever I get the whim to write, so that slowed things up.  

Second, when I _did_ have access to my parents' computer, I never really felt like writing, so I have had to force it out.  I hope it doesn't totally suck.  I've rewritten this chapter about four times, because no matter what I do, it's just not ending right... :o( I hope you enjoy it.

Nonetheless, I can't tell you how much the reviews have helped me.  I would like to send out a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed the past six chapters, and I haven't thanked before. (Shame on me!)  It really means a lot that you took the time to review.

Alison Hershey, Amy, animegirl, dani, Emily Woodmark, gryffcat, Lilyflower8602, Llyana, Manatees 'R' Us, Michelle Palmer, Narcissa Malfoy, Phoenix Flight, Princess Ella, Princess Hermione, Riana Grace, SaiLoR JuPiTer, Tanya Maxwell

Special Thanks to:  
Jem Fal -Thanks for reviewing so much! It really helped, especially towards the end!  
SiriDragon –Hope you enjoyed the movie!  (The books are better, but still!)  Thanks for reviewing so much!  
Kimmy Larisa –I hope you got to read the chapter!  Thank you so much for reviewing so much! :o)  
Liz the Laugh –Your remark about the cliché thing totally made my day... week, really! Thank you!

As of right now, there will be no sequels to this.  I can't think of any sort of plot for them, and to be honest, I've got a dozen other stories I'd rather write.  However, feel free to offer suggestions, and I might consider it.   Somewhere in my (long) profile, I mention a few of the ideas I've got for stories... feel free to check that out and let me know which sounds the best...

I have to run now, I'm gonna be late for class!  Hope you liked! Please review!!


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